No Longer Weak
by LadyHitachiin
Summary: Sasu/Saku* She found out who she truly was and with that came new instincts; the need to protect and the desire to mate. The longer she was around him, the more those instincts roared to be fulfilled. But her heart won't give in so easily for she was no longer weak.
1. Chapter 1

Sasu/Saku* She knows her and her new instincts; the need to protect and the desire to mate. The longer she was around him, the more those instincts roared to be fulfilled. But her heart won't give in so easily for she was no longer weak.

*I've noticed that my scene changes aren't separated like they're supposed to be. I apologize for any confusion that may have caused so I went back and made it clearer that the scene changes.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or own of it's characters nor do I make any money from my writings. Any reviews will be greatly appreciated. :)

Chapter 1: No Longer Weak

White fur blew through the wind as strong legs carried her through the woods, blue and green orbs searching through the bushes and tree branches. Stars were covered by the darkened leaves while shadows were cascaded onto the ground. Grass and dirt were kicked up as her speed grew, her senses scouting out the area for any possible threats. When she found none, she headed back to the old woman's house, mild excitement running through her. Trees passed her constantly as an old hut slowly came into view. To anyone else, it would look abandoned but the kunoichi knew that a fiery life was inside and was there every single day.

A long, white tail retracted as pointy ears folded back into her head. The fur disappeared and on her head, it was replaced with short pink that ended inches below her shoulders. Not much had changed about her appearance, her face was still soft and cheeky. Her hair was still the same bubblegum color. The main difference was her clothes and eyes. She had undergone something crucial to change her left eye, instead of the jade it once was, it was now a brilliant cerulean. She wasn't blind in it, however, it was because of who she had transformed herself into. She had unlocked and mastered what many would call 'their spirit animal', being able to transform into the creature and unlock it's unique abilities and instincts. It was quite different from the regular transformation jutsu. That jutsu would only allow the user to take the unique form of something or another, the one she had managed to master allowed her to lock into the animal's instincts, virtually becoming apart of the animal. She could willingly transform into the animal without wasting any chakra and maintain her mind at all times. Her right jade orb and left cerulean one was to show that she had obtained both sides to her. Animal and human. And she was proud of both.

Sakura walked into the small hut and looked around, closing the door behind her. The old woman was nowhere to be seen so far. It was a small room, with a fireplace on the opposite side and a table on the right side against the wall. A huge rug made of bear fur sat in the center of the room, covering a trap door that Sakura knew the old lady would be under. The small hut was just a disguise for where the old woman truly spent most of her time.

Sighing, the kunoichi reached a small hand under the rug and pulled up a metallic latch. The smell of smoke and burnt skin reached the pinkette's nose, making her cringe at the horrid scent. Once she pulled the door up high enough for her to fit, Sakura wiggled through the hole, her feet landing on a wooden ladder as she began to walk down it, closing the trap door behind her.

"Elder Sanuko? Are you in here?" Sakura called out into the dark room as she continued to climb down the ladder.

"Elder?!"

The kunoichi's feet barely had time to land on the ground before a walking stick connected with the side of her pink head. Sakura clutched her head and sucked in a hiss as she turned around to glare at the old lady through the darkness of the room. The woman would've been Sakura's height if she wasn't slouched over to half of her height. The elder took slow steps as she walked over to the large fireplace to light it up with a fire jutsu. Even though she was as slow as a turtle when walking, the twelve year old knew better. The old woman was as fast as an ANBU officer when she wanted to be and she had the shortest temper Sakura had ever seen.

"Make it sound like I'm some kinda old lady!" the plump woman grumbled. She had long, white hair that rode down her back in a lazy ponytail and wise, silver eyes that brightened up her soft, kind face.

Once the fire was lit and the whole living room was visible, Sakura made her way over to the large pit, staring into the flames. She had been there for two months and she was learning quickly. The animal jutsu had been the first thing the old woman, Sanuko, had taught her and the pinkette was eager to learn more from her. Suddenly, Sakura felt a sharp jab going into her arm, hard enough to where she could quickly hear a snapping noise.

It was so quick, panic and confusion had overridden any pain she should have felt. Wide eyes looked down to see a bright bruise forming in between her elbow and wrist. Realization settled in and the soaring pain started to kick in.

"You broke my arm!"

"Don't get your panties in a twist, missie!" yelled Sanuko, swinging her wooden cane back and forth to emphasize her point. "This has to do with what I'm gonna teach you next."

Sakura cringed her teeth as she narrowed her eyes at the elderly woman, pain visible in her multicolored eyes. Her eyes narrowed even more when the woman had the nerve to laugh at her. "Follow me." she gestured, going over to a couch in the center of the room with a suitable table in front of it. Sitting down non to gracefully on it, Sanuko placed her cane against the arm of the couch beside her.

Sakura tried not to touch her torn muscles and broken bone as she made her way over to the couch, sitting next to the woman. Sanuko seemed to notice her silent way of trying to ignore the pain, but she wouldn't allow that. The white haired lady grabbed Sakura's arm, making the pinkette let out a loud hiss, and placed it on the table in front of them.

"Push the bone back in."

The young kunoichi's eyes were wide as she stared at the woman incredulously. Seeing that she was serious about her doing it herself, Sakura bit her lower lip forcefully and looked down at her swollen and bruised arm.

~_~SCENE CHANGE~~_

She watched from the tree branch as the giant bear made it's first move, claws extended and teeth prepared. Sakura blinked, thinking how that was the last move the furry beast would ever make. Sure enough, the giant creature charged and his heart could practically be heard as it exploded from the force of Sanuko's cane connecting with it. The thing was though, she had only lifted it up and barely grazed it over the bear's chest. It never ceased to amaze Sakura how such an old woman could have such power.

Jade and cerulean orbs watched as Sanuko picked up the dead body but soon widened when the body was being hurled at her towards the tree branch she was on. The kunoichi stood up and prepared the jump out of the way but the speed it was going was incredible and she was thrown back in the next second.

Sakura gasped for air under the large amount of thick fur above her. She couldn't breathe. Her nails filled with dirt as she clawed her way from under the heavy mammal, taking in a large breath of fresh air when she made it.

"That's dinner tonight, youngin'. I expect you to skin it and cook." the old lady replied, walking over to stand over the young kunoichi.

Sakura groaned in frustration as she attempted to lift the heavy beast, but then settled on pulling it by it's arms.

~_~SCENE CHANGE~~_

Four months later, Sakura was lifting another bear the old lady had killed and brought it back to the hut. She still had difficulties lifting the creatures but she was gaining the strength over time to carry them easier and quicker. After entering the hut and going down the trap door, she placed the animal in the back and grabbed a nearby skinning knife. She did it quickly and effectively, with much more grace and caution than she had the first few times.

Out of nowhere, Sanuko had grabbed the knife and slashed it up Sakura's arm, blood dripping down the blade as her arm started to thrum in pain. Sakura hissed and wasn't surprised when the woman instructed her to heal it. Closing her eyes and concentrating her chakra into her palms, her hands glowed green as she touched the wound. Within seconds, the cut started to close up and heal. The old woman's eyes filled with a sense of pride at her pupil, but the young kunoichi still had further to go. Her reflexes were the biggest thing that they needed to work on.

Without handing the knife back to the young female, she reached out and pulled off the headband that was on the kunoichi's head, pink hair falling out of place as she did so.

"What are you doing?" Sakura asked questioningly. Her eyes widened as she watched the elderly woman rake the knife over the leaf symbol on her headband, an eery noise emitting from it that made her cringe.

"You are no longer a leaf shinobi." she replied. Those words stung the kunoichi, but she knew the woman was right. She _had_ left. She was a missing nin now and she had chosen that life that night _he_ left. She hadn't followed him because she had left on her own quest; to get stronger and to somehow better him and Naruto. And there was another reason. . . A reason she would never forget.

Sakura had expected the woman to give her headband back but what happened next, she did not expect. Sanuko wrapped the head band over the girl's multicolored eyes, shadowing her sight in complete darkness.

"You may take this headband off in eight months and not a day sooner. It will help you with your senses and your reflexes."

The pinkette nodded her head in understanding and felt the knife be placed back in her hand. Then she felt around for where she left off on skinning the bear. Oh, this was going to be harder than she thought.

~_~SCENE CHANGE~~_

Sakura's eyes adjusted to the new light as she winced against the hurtful rays. She groaned and felt another attack coming from her left. Jumping out of the way before a cane was connected to her torso, the kunoichi rubbed her eyes. Opening them again, she winced and let out a small whine at the brightness. Sensing another attack coming from behind her, she jumped into the air and did a back flip, landing out of the older woman's reach for a brief moment before she charged again. The next moment, a gigantic boulder was swung at Sakura. She caught it with ease but then Sanuko jumped and landed on top of it, seemingly adding another ton to the load. The pinkette grimaced as she struggled to keep up with the weight.

"You will keep this boulder perfectly still for the next five hours."

"What?" Sakura half yelled, her muscles shaking from the sheer weight of it.

"You heard me." the old woman huffed. "How else am I supposed to take a nap?"

Sakura gritted her teeth as she glared down at the ground and spread her chakra throughout her muscles to help maintain balance.

Months later when the old woman felt like the boulder task wasn't enough when Sakura had perfected it without the use of her chakra, she had switched it up a bit and had them move to the water. The thirteen year old kunoichi had trouble at first holding up the boulder and woman and being able to stay on the water's surface, but with her chakra control, she had quickly perfected it and was able to do it for longer.

Pinks strands were turning a bright silver over the time and when the kunoichi had first noticed, she had thrown a fit, saying that the old woman was killing her with stress and making her hair turn gray. The old woman had quickly slapped the kunoichi across the face with her cane, saying something about how she dared to accuse her of such a thing. Then Sanuko had explained to the teenager that it was just her animal form coming more into effect, much like her eye had changed color, she would have silver highlights in her pink hair. Sakura had looked at her quizzically until shrugging, accepting her answer.

More time had passed and before Sakura realized it, she had been gone for almost three years. She had gotten stronger but not nearly strong enough. After all, she hadn't been able to beat the old woman yet. That was her goal before Sakura had to go on her own way. She would beat that crazy old lady and snap her cane in two, throw it on the ground, and set it on fire. That cane had bruised and broken so many of her bones, it was ridiculous. That old woman was lucky she wasn't in the bingo book for cruelty alone.

Though Sakura had to give it to the lady, she sure knew how to push the teenager to her limits so she could get stronger. For that, she was grateful.

~_SCENE CHANGE~~_

"Alright, Elder Sanuko. I'll be off now." Sakura smiled as she adjusted the long sword on her back.

"What did I tell you about calling me 'Elder'?!" the woman yelled playfully as she swung her deadly, wooden cane around, aiming for Sakura's head.

The pinkette chuckled as she blocked the attack with her arm, this time her bones staying in contact and her skin not bruising at the touch. "I'll miss you too, Sanuko."

The old woman's face lit up with a soft smile as she retreated her cane, but before she could pull it back all the way, it broke into thousands of tiny splinters. Her eyes widened a bit before a huge, amused smirk spread over her mouth. She let out a loud laugh as she regarded the grinning kunoichi above her. "Good luck, Sakura."

The kunoichi nodded her head and turned to walk away, beginning her journey. Where she would end up, she didn't know, but she was going to enjoy every minute of it. Her waist length hair blew through the wind as she started into a run, pink and silver tresses flying behind her. She wouldn't stay in one place for too long, she would keep traveling, with an exception of one place that she could never go again. Looking down at her outfit, she frowned. She would have to get rid of the old outfit for a new one, a better one.

Hours of running flew by and Sakura soon made it to a nearby town. It wasn't too glamorous but that wasn't what she was looking for. The kunoichi walked into a clothing shop, getting many stares as she walked around. She now wore a pair of tight, black shorts that were low on her hips and ended at her mid thigh. Her shirt was a crimson color and was sleeveless. On the back, a clouded full moon was beautifully painted where cherry blossoms flew through the breeze across it. The shirt ended a few inches above her bellybutton. Fishnets covered the naked skin of her stomach and back, beginning at her right shoulder and ending at her left knee, leaving her left shoulder and right knee bare. She bought a crimson belt that hung high on her left waist and drooped low on her right hip. On the left side of the belt, attached to her waist, was her weapons pouch where she carried small herbs, senbon, kunai, shurikan, and some cash. The blue cloth on her headband was replaced with red and was currently tied around her belt, hanging down on the right side of her hip. Black, belted boots were strapped to her feet and ended above her shins. A thick, sturdy, black belt was wrapped around her torso that was attached to the long sword rested against her back.

The hilt of the sword was an onyx color whilst the sheath was a bright silver that shone beautifully when the sun hit it. On the sheath, a crimson dragon swirled around from the bottom and quickly reached the top, it's mouth opened in a fiery roar. It was a brilliant farewell present to Sakura from the old woman, although the kunoichi wasn't about to ask how Sanuko had managed to get it.

Stepping into a weapon's shop, Sakura looked around for anything to catch her eye. Although she loved the long sword Sanuko had given her, it seemed that the sword was too precious to be stained with blood just yet. So far, nothing seemed to interest the kunoichi. It was all about the same; kunai, shurikan, katanas. Nothing seemed to stand out to her. Just when she was about to leave, she spotted something shining against the wall. Her multicolored eyes turned to look at what had caught her attention with it's brightness.

Sakura's eyes widened at the unique looking weapon, stepping closer to it to further her investigation. It was a scythe. The blade itself had to be a foot and a half in length while the wooden handle was a foot. The blade looked to be double edged and extremely sharp. The handle, though made of wood, was smooth as she touched it and was a brilliant silvery color. The chain that hung beside it had to be measured up to twenty feet in length and at the end, a black, medium sized bell was attached to it. Picking up the weapon, she made sure not to unravel the chain as she made her way over to the counter.

"Oho, I see that someone finally took notice of Kohakuno." said the man as she watched Sakura gently place the weapon on the counter.

"Kohakuno? Is that it's name?"

"Sure is, missie." he nodded.

Sakura couldn't take her eyes off of the weapon as she paid for it and attached it to her belt, right behind her headband. Walking out of the store, she looked around, already used to the small jingling noise that the bell made as she walked. Sighing, she wondered what she was going to do next or where she would go. Stopping to look at a wanted poster that was attached to a wall on the outside of an inn, she glanced over the picture and price for him. He didn't look so tough, but then again, an old woman living by herself in the woods wouldn't look so tough either. It was a young man, in his early twenties and the price for him wasn't that high but she could give it a shot. The poster said that he was wanted dead or alive and that whoever captured him was to turn him in to the village's elder.

~_~SCENE CHANGE~~_

The first man had been no problem and the ones after that were child's play as well. Before Sakura knew it, six months had passed and she had quite the bounty on her head as well for striking a war lord that had the nerve to touch her inappropriately. Though that never stopped her from collecting heads and the money for them. She was starting to get a name for herself though she didn't really care for the publicity. It was rather annoying, low level bandits with no common sense coming after her and trying to collect her for the bounty.

The kunoichi stopped outside of a small village when she sensed two unfamiliar chakra signatures stop behind her. They were strong but they wouldn't take or kill her.

"Are you Sakura Haruno, un?"

Without turning around to the voice that was clearly male, she replied, "I'm afraid so, un."

There was a laugh behind her that was also male but quickly stopped. She could feel the anger raising from the first male behind her, probably upset from her mocking his language the first time she ever spoke to him. Turning around, her jade and cerulean orbs took the two males in. The one that was glaring at her had blonde hair, half covering his left eye while the other half in a ponytail. The other had a orange swirled mask on with only one eye visible. But they both had one thing in common; they both wore black cloaks with red clouds on them. She never met one in person before, but from what she could remember from reading about them in a paper or on a poster, they were from the Akatsuki. A deadly, powerful organization that killed mercilessly. But what would they be doing here?

"What do you want from me?" she asked, her face stoic.

The blonde calmed himself down before replying. "We have a proposition for you."

Sakura raised an eyebrow quizzically. "What kind of proposition?"

The one with the mask spoke up next, his voice holding an odd sense of excitement that made Sakura slightly uncomfortable. "We want you to join the Akatsuki, Sakura-chan!"

Her multicolored eyes regarded him for a moment before turning around as she called out, "No thanks."

"What?!" the blonde shouted.

Sakura tilted her head to the side and narrowed her eyes at him. "I said no."

He seemed to seethe angrily at her but she didn't care. Walking away, she could feel them disappear as their chakra quickly vanished. The kunoichi sighed and continued on her way to the next village. Obviously they didn't want her too much or they would have chased after her.

~_SCENE CHANGE~~_

"Didn't I already decline your offer?"

"You will come with us, kunoichi."

Sakura narrowed her eyes at the male. He was not ordering her around, she would do whatever she pleased. This man had red hair that was unruly and his face was expressionless as he stared at her. Next to him was the blonde fool with the short temper that she met two weeks ago. This time, however, the masked one was not with him. And she was starting to miss that odd, cheery personality of his compared to the temperamental and stoic ones in front of her.

"You will not order me around, puppet." she remarked, her teeth baring at him. He seemed surprised for a split second by her comment. She would've been surprised to if she were anyone else. With the wolf's senses combined with her own, her sense of smell had increased drastically. She could easily pick out the smell of wood and chakra on the red head. And on the other, it was a mix of clay and explosives. Plus, the red haired man's eyes were so lifeless, it was as if he were dead. She could barely sense any life from him and there was no regular heartbeat that she could hear.

"Those are not my orders, kunoichi, it is Leader-sama's." he spoke, emotionless.

Sakura raised an eyebrow at him and placed her hand on her hip. "Get this straight, I take orders from _no one_."

"Then we will take you by force." he said.

The kunoichi stood up straight, her hand over the handle of her scythe. "You can try."

Sakura jumped backward before the bomb that was placed under her exploded. Another explosion went off behind her, though she decided to use the smoke to her advantage. Quickly creating a shadow clone, she stealthily slid from the battlefield without the other two noticing. She had to have that kind of stealth to capture prey when she lived in the woods. It was either be quick and quiet or don't eat. She also had to have that kind of speed when escaping Sanuko's cane.

She ran further into the forest, feeling that the battle was continuing while she went on. She had made sure to mask her chakra so that they couldn't follow or find her. Her jade and cerulean orbs searched the area for a place to make camp. Finding none, she continued onward. Soon, her shadow clone was defeated and informed her of the battle. It seemed they hadn't noticed her escape at all and that the blonde surely did have a bad temper. Sakura grinned and decided to let her animal form take over for a bit. White, pointed ears slowly appeared on her head as a long, white tail formed on her tail bone. The length of her legs started to decline as she began running on all fours. White fur covered her entire body and her rows of teeth sharpened as her snout grew.

This form was incredibly useful for cold nights, a night that would soon follow. She could feel the sharpness of the wind as it stung her nose. Her furry body was well accustomed to the cold nights and for that, she was grateful. Night would soon fall and she would be well prepared for the temperature change. Another thing that she was grateful for was that, even though she had transformed, her clothes and weapons would still be on her person when she changed back.

~_~SCENE CHANGE~~_

Her white tail wrapped around her body as she got comfortable on the ground. She was on the edge of a good, clear spot where someone could easily make camp. Though she had no need to, it was still nice to sleep in areas such as this. It reminded her of the old days when she was still a Konoha shinobi. Before she left.

Her own chakra was still masked when she felt four new ones getting closer. Her eyes were closed and her body didn't move as she waited for them to pass her by. Unfortunately, that didn't happen when they stopped in the clear spot near her.

"Lets make camp here for tonight." said a masculine voice. Still without opening her eyes, Sakura listened to their small conversation.

"Juugo and Suigetsu, scout out the area. Karin, gather the firewood."

The three said their acceptance and she could feel and hear them take off to do their duties. Suddenly, the kunoichi's senses were on high alert when she felt a pair of eyes land on her. She made no move, nor did the male as he continued to stare at her. She could hear no irregular heartbeats and he didn't seem to pose a threat to her so she settled on ignoring him. She felt him walk around the area a bit but he made no move to touch or speak to her, so she made that out as a sign of indifference towards her. She didn't care however, as long as he didn't mess with her.

The male smelt like fire, a burning anger clouded by a smoke of death. It was slightly unnerving to be in his presence. Sakura could also sense his chakra; it was dark, very dark.

"The area is clear." a different male said that was followed by another.

"Hn."

Sakura heard them sit down and she could smell another person coming into the area. A feminine smell reached her nose along with the scent of wood. The kunoichi couldn't stop as she let out a small snort and covered her nose with her paw as the female's smell got closer to her. After a few moments, a fire was lit and the kunoichi could feel the heat of the flames covering portions of her fur.

"What is that?" one of the males asked.

The pinkette had to suppress a groan, not that she could make that sort of noise in that form. She could feel someone getting closer to her and it smelt odd, though not bad. His scent was very similar to that of water but there was a hint of blood there as well.

"Don't get any closer, Suigetsu, you might scare it off." spoke the female, her voice holding a sense of mocking.

"Shut up, Karin. You're just too scared to approach it."

One of Sakura's ears twitched at the sound of the female's voice. It was loud and irritating. The woman in general seemed to offend one of Sakura's senses every time she made herself known. Opening her eyes, Sakura turned her head and snarled when the male leaned down beside her. Her ears were reared back and her fangs showed threateningly as she stared up at him. His hand had frozen in place, previously having the attempt to touch her. All of her senses were on alert as she searched for any type of threat from him. His purple eyes were calm as he stared back at her. His heartbeat was beating slightly fast and his body heat seemed to rise for a moment in surprise. She could sense no fear coming from him, just plain curiosity.

Sakura's white ears lifted as her mouth fell back into place, her body calming as she continued to watch him carefully. He had silver hair that ended at his shoulders and a single tooth sticking out at the edge of his mouth. His scent was calming and his chakra was intriguing. Like a deadly typhoon. The kunoichi could tell that he was from the Land of Waves from his appearance and scent alone.

Her multicolored eyes followed as he reached out and placed his hand on her head. It was a gentle yet strong touch and he began to scratch behind one of her ears. It was a very strange sensation but she quickly found that she enjoyed it. Her eyes caught movement and she let out a low growl as she watched the female begin to make her way over.

Unlike the male, the female had a disturbing scent, like a crazy sense of desperation. The red haired female let out a shrill of shock that made Sakura's ears tilt back in a cringe. Tilting her head more into the ear scratching, she watched the other woman carefully as she began to complain about her. Her jade and cerulean orbs looked around and spotted a big, orange haired male standing near the fire. His demeanor was calm and gentle as he looked at her but something about the man made Sakura tense. Continuing her search, Sakura was met with the oddest sight yet and what was even more odd was her reaction to him.

Sasuke Uchiha stood, leaning against a tree as he regarded her with a stoic expression. She stared back at him, her eyes watching carefully. She didn't feel the need to run up to him and say how much she missed him. But that was the thing, even though she had missed him, ever since she was able to connect to her inner beast, she didn't feel the need to be around him or think about him. She had missed everybody and that was what he was apart of; 'everybody'. However, looking over him at the moment, her mind fully on him, she wasn't sure she wanted anything to do with him. His face and body language were cold, void of any kind of emotion. He had completely changed from the boy she had once loved. He was no longer the Sasuke she knew, therefore, she had no obligation to communicate with him.

Closing her eyes, Sakura laid her head back down on the ground, hardly content with the situation she was in even though she secretly enjoyed the scratching behind her ear. She wasn't surprised when the male beside her sat down next to her. From the buzzing of approval she could feel radiating off of him, she figured that the male was like that to animals in general. From his actions, she thought he was just odd.

~_~SCENE CHANGE~~_

She was able to get a decent amount of sleep that night, even though an unfamiliar male body slept next to her for most of the night. She woke up at the first sight of dawn and stretched out her limbs. She couldn't stay in that spot for too long, she had bounties to collect and money to earn. Turning around to head west, she began to walk away at a relaxed pace. Everyone in the group except for the Uchiha was still asleep so no one stopped her as she left.

Once she could no longer feel them near her, her body transformed back into her human from, a thin line appearing over her lips as she broke out into a run. Trees blurred as her speed increased, her destination; the next town.

She ran for about two hours and she could slowly see the town approaching when two not so welcomed visitors appeared before her. Sakura's feet halted as she regarded the two carefully. The foul tempered one was in front of her next to the one that wore the mask. Her pink head tilted to the side as her thoughts searched for a way to get them out of her way.

"Not done chasing after me, Blondie?" she asked casually.

He glared at her in return. "My name isn't 'Blondie'!" he yelled.

"Ohh, Tobi knows senpai's name!" the masked one said excitedly.

"Shut up, Tobi!" the blonde hissed, making the other male let out a whiny pout.

Placing a hand on her hip, Sakura regarded them carefully. "Not that this isn't entertaining boys, but I have business to take care of."

The blonde focused his attention back on the kunoichi. "What business could you possibly have that's so important?"

She narrowed her eyes at him and frowned. "That's really rude. Fine, lets make a deal, shall we?"

His one blue eye that was visible glared at her. "No, we don't have time for deals, un."

Sakura thought for a moment before an idea struck her. She would use their own personalities and throw it back at them. Turning her attention back to the masked male, she put on a bright smile. "You're name's Tobi, right?"

"That's right!" he nodded, the happiness clear in his voice. "Tobi is glad that Sakura-chan knows his name."

Sakura nodded back at him. "Do you want to play a game, Tobi?"

He was about to answer when the blonde interrupted him, "No! We don't have time to play games either."

Sakura frowned at the blonde. "You're awfully moody, do you know that?" He glared at her and gritted his teeth as she continued. "I bet you just don't want to play because you know you'll lose."

This seemed to strike a cord in him as he shouted back, "You're on, yeah!"

~_~SCENE CHANGE~~_

Sakura laughed as she ran throughout the town. It was a game of hide and seek, which surprisingly had worked. Those two were complete fools, to not notice that the Sakura with them was actually a clone. It was a riot that they even agreed to the idea in the first place. Then again, the blonde just seemed to have that attitude that nothing could get passed or defeat him. Idiots.

She continued to run, her pink and silver strands flying in the wind behind her as she traveled through the forest. The unfortunate side of being occupied by the duo was that she didn't get the chance to eat at that town or look for a wanted poster. Sighing, Sakura continued to run until mid afternoon, stopping to look for a spot to start a small fire and eat something. Quickly finding a rabbit, she killed and skinned it with a kunai after starting a fire in a small pit. After eating, she put out the fire and started on her journey.

~_~SCENE CHANGE~~_

Stepping into the town was a bad idea when she recognized who was there. Fortunately, they didn't notice her as she walked the down an alleyway and out of their sight. She was sure to mask her chakra and scent as she listened in on their conversation.

"Has anybody found her yet?" Kiba asked, Akamaru standing beside him. He was one of the males in the group of three. Sakura quickly transformed into her animal form and laid down, knowing the abilities of what the other male could do. She had to take precautions around him otherwise she would get caught.

"No." spoke the female. Tenten. "Nobody here has seen her. Neji? What's wrong?"

There was a long pause that made Sakura uncomfortable before he spoke softly, "Someone is listening."

"Can you tell who?" asked Kiba.

There was another long silence between the group until after a few moments, he replied calmly, "No."

Before anything else happened, Sakura began to carefully walk further down the alleyway. She was soon able to exit the town without the search party noticing her, thankfully. The kunoichi was tired of having people constantly searching for her. It was always one of three things, rogue ninja wanting her head, the Akatsuki for some unknown reason, or Konoha wanting her to come back. If she went with the Akatsuki then she didn't know what fate had in store for her, she could be their prisoner for all she knew. She couldn't go back to Konoha, she could become their prisoner because she was a missing nin after all. She would have to do time and the kunoichi had no intention of giving up her freedom. Besides, Konoha had betrayed her. On the night she had left, she went home to find her parents dead on her living room floor. That very same night, Sakura had found out that the elders had sentenced her entire family to be murdered. She was just lucky that she hadn't been in the house at the time. Why they were killed, she didn't know but they were.

Sakura ran through vast plains of grass and trees, seemingly endless as she ran. She was tired of it, she wanted a new change of scenery. It was nice to be surrounded by leaves all of the time but after living practically in them for over three years, she wanted to see something new. She had heard that Suna was surrounded by desert. Maybe she would go there. She'd have to prepare for that scorching heat that would be there though.

The kunoichi continued to run through the forest, dirt barely moving as she passed them. Stopping, she looked around for the familiar chakra signatures to get closer. Transforming, the large wolf sat on the ground, waiting casually. A few minutes passed by as a group came into view, a stoic, dark haired male in front, leading the other three. Her jade and cerulean orbs blinked as they came closer. She watched as the silver haired male of the group ran up to her and held out his hand, a brilliant grin on his face. She regarded him carefully before placing her snout in his outstretched palm, looking up into this bright, purple eyes for a moment. She then watched as the others stopped beside him and looked at her curiously.

"What are you doing all the way out here?" the water nin asked her, his other hand coming up to scratch behind her ear. Sakura tilted her head to the side to enjoy the feeling.

"We don't have time to mess with animals, Suigetsu." said Sasuke, his voice sounding a little annoyed at the silver haired male.

Said male chuckled in response and stopped his gentle treatment, making Sakura want to frown. She wasn't sure what it was about the male, but she felt comfortable in his presence. Perhaps it was his misty scent. It sure wasn't his personality, which practically seeped with mischievousness. Light shone through the leaves of the tree branches, lighting up parts of her white fur and her eyes. Suigetsu tilted his head to the side as he stared at her. He was quiet for a moment, which seemed odd to the group as the female walked towards him.

"What's going on?" she asked.

The big guy spoke up next as he watched the duo. "Is something wrong, Suigetsu?"

"No." he shook his head. "Its just," he paused, "I never got a good look at her eyes before."

"What do you mean?" Karin asked, moving closer to lean over to look at the wolf. Sakura allowed her slight access as she looked over at the red haired female. She gasped when she looked at her, seemingly getting a good look at her eyes for the first time as well.

Sakura had to suppress the urge to roll her multicolored orbs. Her eyes were one of the many reasons why she was constantly stared at when she visited villages and towns. It was just an everyday experience for her. She could feel the eyes of everyone on her as they looked over her carefully, though she was slightly surprised to find that the Uchiha seemed slightly curious about her multicolored eyes. After a few moments with them continuing to ogle her, Sakura got tired of their staring and awe struck comments and stood up. She turned around and began to walk away, her tail swishing around behind her. The female wasn't shocked to hear them walking behind her. She wasn't sure that they were following her or just continuing on their way, but either way, she didn't care.

Hours of walking flew by and the kunoichi wondered if it was because they thought she was incapable of matching their speed. Most likely. For all they knew, she was just a normal wolf. Though the fact that they didn't leave her behind was a mystery to her. Sure, the silver haired male seemed to be attached to her but that didn't mean they had to slow their progress down because of her. Hell, Sakura wasn't even sure why she was with them in the first place. During the time that she walked in front of the group, she noticed that the water nin and the other female tended to argue a lot and each time she attempted to strike the male, Sakura felt a tinge of anger and protectiveness surge through her. She didn't act on it, however.

~_~SCENE CHANGE~~_

The group stopped to make camp once night fell, Sakura, surprisingly, stopping for night with them as well. After all, she wanted to look at the water nin's injury he had gotten protecting her. She hadn't expected him to make such a rash move when the kunai was thrown at her. She wasn't even sure why the rogue ninja aimed at her in the first place, but they had and before she could stop him, the water ninja stepped in the way. Although she would have just stepped out of the way before the weapon hit her. It was. . . odd that he did such a thing.

Sakura stalked over to the male sitting down against a tree. His shoulder had a gash where no one had yet to attend to it. Moving to sit next to him, she looked over the wound carefully. The skin around it was red and covered with dirt, swollen and irritated, signs that it would become infected if it wasn't taken care of. Purple eyes watched as Sakura stuck out her rough tongue, a green glow surrounding it as she licked the wound slowly. Each centimeter was cleaned and closed up as her tongue skimmed across the cut. When it was fully healed, she stood back, sitting on her legs as she stared back at him. She regarded the male carefully, waiting to see what his reaction would be. Finally, after a moment of silence, a smirk played across his lips and he reached out to stroke behind her ear.

"You two are strange."

Sakura and Suigetsu looked forward at the red head staring at them quizzically. Her eyebrow was raised and a hand pressed to her hip. The 'strange' duo narrowed their eyes at her in return. She looked shocked for a moment before she walked away to sit beside the Uchiha. Said, cold male paid no attention to her advances as he stared into the flames in front of him. Low chuckling could be heard from the other side of the campsite. The pinkette tilted her head and looked to see the one named Juugo sitting against a tree, his eyes coated with a soft amusement.

Sakura rested her head against the ground near the silver haired male's legs. Her eyes skimmed over the area as she listened to the calm throttle of everyone's heartbeats. But the one next to her was the most calming. His breathing was even and calm as he sat next to her. The shinobi seemed so at ease with her right next to him, like it was an everyday occurrence for her to lay next to him, even though it had only happened once before.

Closing her eyes, she settled her body into the most comfortable position she could find next to the male. The Uchiha would be the first to take night watch but he wouldn't be the only one to stay up most of the night.

~_~SCENE CHANGE~~_

Stretching her limbs, Sakura let out a loud yawn, her tongue coming out along with a whiny noise. Closing her mouth and standing up straight, she looked around the camp. Everyone seemed to be fully awake as they got ready to leave. Yawning again, she began to walk toward the area where they had there fire. Making sure that all the ashes were cold, she waited for the group to set out before she went on her own way. She enjoyed being in Suigetsu's company for the most part, but she couldn't live the rest of her life as a wolf or staying in the forest, eating fish and rabbits for food.

She watched as they began to walk away, more specifically, as the water ninja walked away. Getting a good look at his back, she recognized the giant sword strapped there. It used to belong to the Wave assassin Zabuza that was killed when Team Seven went on the mission to protect the bridge builder. It had happened so long ago, it seemed more like a dream to the pink haired shinobi. Sakura was so far back in her memories that she didn't notice that purple orbs were staring back at her until the male spoke.

"Are you coming?"

Focusing back on him, she tilted her white head to the side and thought about it for a moment. Obviously he wanted her to follow them from the expecting look he was giving her, but should she? She was supposed to be on a journey, a journey to get stronger. How would she continue that if she was following a teenager that was possibly weaker than her around? Closing her eyes, she made up her mind and took a step forward. Sakura looked up at the male as she walked up to him. He gave her a small smirk as he turned to continue walking, her following him.

"Why do insist on that animal following us?" asked the cold Uchiha.

"Is she bothering you?" Suigetsu asked, raising an eyebrow at the male.

Sasuke didn't respond to the question, choosing to ignore it and keep walking.

"I'm curious as to how she healed your wound." spoke Karin, tilting her head back to look at Sakura. "I can't sense any chakra coming from her at all, yet she seems to possess some healing abilities."

"That's because she's brilliant, unlike some people." Suigetsu smirked at the red head's glare and looked back to meet jade and cerulean orbs as if taking in pride that she was only there because of him. Which was completely true, she was only there because he had expected her to follow him and she had chosen to fulfill his small, silent request.

~_~SCENE CHANGE~~_

Night fell and Sakura was itching for a bath and let out some steam. Luckily, the group stopped somewhere close to a river. She could smell the water in the air and it soothed her senses. Once camp was set, Sakura managed to sneak out without anyone noticing. She made her way over to the river quickly, her movements swift and silent. The river was out of ear and eye shot so as long as nobody came looking for the water source, no one would see her, she doubted that they even knew it was there.

Her body quickly disappeared and was replaced with her human form as she neared the edge of the river. She eagerly removed her weapons and clothes, her naked body glistening in the moonlight with each article of clothing she removed. She sensed that there was no major movement within the group's campsite and so she proceeded, stepping into the cool, night water. She soon found that it was too cold to sit in or bath so she settled for standing on top of it, her chakra holding her up above the surface as she stared up at the moon. Her pink and silver tresses adorned her back, stopping shortly above her tailbone.

Letting out a sigh, she decided on working on her movements. Grace, speed, agility. Without so much as a sound, her feet spun around, bringing up a large amount of water droplets. Swinging her body around, she swiped her hand through the air and into a water droplet. Her body continued to swirl around, moving in different motions and positions as she brought up more water and willed them to stay in the air for as long as possible.

She had noticed his presence a while ago, yet she had done nothing to stop her surprisingly silent observer. She could feel as his eyes watched her every movement from the shadows and she wondered if he would stay in that position the whole time and be content with just watching. Though she wasn't upset about his watching since she knew that he couldn't see her features. He wouldn't know who she was or what she looked like, only that she was human.

Sakura's hands and body moved in fluid motions as she spun gracefully over the water. Spinning around faster, water started to form in a circle around her like a growing typhoon. It reached above her and formed a giant ball. Putting her chakra into it, she watched as the ball started to spin uncontrollably until exploding from the pressure. The water spilled over the sky, making it look like it was raining as she quickly made her way to the edge of the river.

Slipping on her clothes and her weapons, she felt another chakra signature making it's way to the area. Transforming back, she watched with careful eyes as Suigetsu made his way over to her, his facial expression being one she had never seen on the male's face before. His features were almost unreadable as he stopped and stared down at her. Not a moment later, the leader of the group walked into view, his expression stoic as always.

"Where did that chakra come from?" he asked.

Silence met him for a moment before the water ninja replied quietly. "Her."

Sakura tilted her head to the side to watch the Uchiha for his reaction. When she found none, the kunoichi wasn't surprised. His expression was emotionless as they watched each other. Every time he was around, Sakura would feel uncomfortable. She would always unconsciously put up her guard, like he would attack her at any given moment. But she knew he wouldn't since he didn't have a motive, and she could sense that he wouldn't take the time or effort to attend to her, to make sure she was out of harm's way, unlike the water nin in front of her. Sakura could sense the evil within him and it appeared he didn't care for anyone, he was dangerous to be around.

Sakura wasn't sure of how she would've reacted to the male if she hadn't mastered that animal jutsu and then ran into the Uchiha. Though she figured that she would've run up to him and did all she could for him to accept her, even if only a little bit. It was pathetic about how much she cared for him and how she was willing to throw everything aside for him. That was another reason why she was grateful for the animal jutsu, her instincts had immediately told her to back off. The kunoichi wasn't so focused on love and compassion anymore, she was looking for survival and strength.

Looking away from the cold male, Sakura began to walk away and back towards the campsite, her stride graceful and strong.

Please review what you think! :)


	2. Hello Again

Thank you to those of you who reviewed. I'm glad that you like the story and I'll try to update as often as I can :)

*I've noticed that my scene changes aren't separated like they're supposed to be. I apologize for any confusion that may have caused so I went back and made it clearer that the scene changes.

Chapter 2: Hello Again

The next day had been uneventful and Sakura was getting restless. She would have to leave soon. Though she loved her animal form, she was ready for some action, to spar, to train, to kill, to do something other than walk around and search for a person that was apart of the organization she was running from.

Closing her eyes, she thought about what to do. It was dark, hard to see for a regular human but she had advanced vision in both forms so that wouldn't be a problem for her. She could also smell water in the air that wasn't too far away. Nobody would be able to see her properly if she decided to work on her technique and she was about to take advantage of that.

Watching closely as everyone went to their respective duties, she could feel someone's eyes on her. No matter, even with his blood trait, he still wouldn't be able to make out her identity in the darkness. Without the light source of a fire going and with the light from the moon covered by the trees, only silhouettes of the group members could be seen.

Sakura began to make her way over to the water source that was about a five minute walk away. Stepping into a giant clearing, she was met with the sight of a huge lake. The moon shone down brightly onto it, lighting up the clear, glittering water. Sensing that nobody had followed her, she quickly transformed back and stripped. She gently placed her long sword on top of her folded clothes on the ground. Instead of placing her scythe on the ground next to the sword, she held onto Kohakuno and walked over the lake.

The bell jingled slightly as she took calm, collected steps over the water. She soon reached the center of the lake and that was when she stopped. Letting out a sigh, she smelt a familiar person coming closer, masking his chakra but not his scent. The kunoichi ignored the silent observer in the shadows, fully knowing that he couldn't see her features with the lack of light. Even with the light from the moon, it wasn't enough for him to properly see any details on her.

Sakura whipped her foot around, water flying up into the air. She did that a few more times until a stream of water surrounded her in the air. Still holding onto the handle, she swung her scythe around to cut through a number of water droplets. Then with her other hand, she grabbed a piece of the chain that was near the end and started to spin the bell around quickly. The speed of which she swung it created a small cyclone but the bell itself made no sound. The kunoichi positioned it so that the cyclone was facing the water's surface and within seconds, water started to rise from the lake and around the chain in fierce circles. The water created a giant orb that followed the bell and Sakura managed to toss it into the air.

Spinning around to gain momentum, she swung the chain around like a deadly whip and the bell hit the giant water ball that was in the air, making it explode and millions of droplets to spread out. She readied her weapon and jumped into the air, slashing the small droplets before they managed to touch her or the surface of the lake.

She wasn't a master at handling the new weapon but if she allowed herself credit, she would think that she was actually pretty good at it. Although she had used the weapon for almost seven months, she still had room for improvement. She knew that with the way she couldn't use both the blade and chain at the same time. Every time she had tried to, she messed up and ended up injuring herself in some way or another.

Suddenly her body stilled, prepared for an attack. She could smell the blood lust coming off of them but it didn't bother her. They wouldn't lay a hand on her for they were just regular bandits. It seemed that the silent observer noticed their presence as well, though he made no move to stop them. Sakura figured it was because he was curious as to what she would do. The kunoichi didn't have a problem with killing the bandits that were stepping into the clearing, mainly because the bandits and her observer were on opposite sides and that would guarantee that he still wouldn't be able to see her.

"Ohh, would you look at this boys. I think that is a female that I see." the gruff leader chuckled. There were five men in total; all tall and disgusting looking, not to mention they smelled horrible, like sake and dried blood. But after a moment, Sakura's sensitive nose caught a new scent that made her want to wretch; arousal. It seemed that they were so desperate for physical contact with the opposite gender that they were excited just to be in the mere presence of a female that they couldn't even fully see.

It was when they made a move to get closer to her, not realizing that she was standing on the water, was when she attacked. She jumped in attack range and threw her weapon, the tip of her scythe lodging itself into the leader's neck. She yanked the weapon out by her chain and whirled it around, slashing the necks of two more bandits open. Two more bodies joined the dead three on the ground, them being killed without even knowing that anything had happened.

Sakura frowned at the sight and lifted up her weapon, also frowning at it. Walking back over to the water, she rinsed off the bandits' blood from her silver scythe, mindful of the double edged blade. The kunoichi let out a long sigh and within a few seconds, she was on the other side of the lake and dressed. She transformed back into her animal form before anyone, more specifically, the male watching her, could somehow manage to see her face. She walked back into camp quietly and sat down next to the water ninja that was arguing with the red haired woman.

It was another fifteen minutes before the Uchiha showed up and sat down to lean against a tree. The smell of freshly cooked fish filled Sakura's nostrils as she closed her eyes and nestled herself to lie comfortably on the grass. She was slightly surprised when a hand caressed her ear and she opened her eyes to see that a cooked fish was placed in front of her. Tilting her head to see Suigetsu grinning at her, Sakura ate the fish without hesitation, though not quickly.

~_~SCENE CHANGE~~_

The group made it to a small village the next day and for some reason, Sakura was uneasy the whole trip there. She followed the water ninja around, them having split up to save time as they gathered different supplies. The duo walked down streets, looking for a sufficient food store. Then, Sakura felt it; two large chakra signatures that she recognized were making their way into the village.

After letting out a low, fierce growl, her body quickly started to change back into her human form, after all, she couldn't exactly fight them off in her animal form. Suigetsu turned around, but instead of being met with the sight of a white wolf, a female with pink hair with white streaks met his view. Sakura could practically feel the shock and confusion rolling off of him in waves, but she didn't pay that much mind. She could feel them getting closer to her quickly. The kunoichi glanced back for a moment and motioned for the water nin to stand behind her.

"Get back." she said, her voice stern, leaving no room for an argument.

Not a moment later, two Akatsuki members appeared before her. She looked ahead and wasn't surprised to find the blonde there with the one in the mask. Sakura smirked at the glare the blonde was giving her.

"Hey Blondie, its been awhile."

His glare intensified as he growled out at her, "Don't think you can get away with pulling off something like last time, yeah!"

The pinkette frowned at him. "Oh? Who's fault is it that I actually managed to get away?"

Sakura could practically see the angry flames in his blue eye. "Why you! You're going to pay for making a fool out of me!"

The kunoichi's smirk returned as she replied and got into a battle stance. "But you do it so well yourself, I wanted to see if I could make you look just as bad on my own."

There was a loud, angered growl right before an explosion went off under Sakura. She barely had time to move back and get Suigetsu out of the way before they could take the damage. The kunoichi managed to get him to safety and get back to the battle in a matter of seconds, with only a small scrape on her leg. When she looked back up at the blonde, he was wearing a smug grin.

"Is it just me, or is it that you want to protect that shinobi? Maybe we should take him as a hostage, yeah?"

Sakura narrowed her eyes at the male. "Not before I kick your ass, yeah!" His smirk left and he narrowed his eyes at her as she continued. "What do you think of _that_, un?!"

"Shut up!" the blonde yelled, preparing to throw another explosive. Just then, something peculiar caught Sakura's attention. His hands. . .

Her eyes widened in realization. "Are those mouths on your hands?!"

Deidara gave her a quizzical look before nodding. "Yeah, un."

Sakura's face lit up with shock and a sense of disgust. "That's so weird and nasty!"

The blonde shinobi glared at her. "You're really pissing me off, kunoichi!"

Sakura could feel the other three of the small group make their way to the scene. 'Took them long enough.' she thought. Though it wouldn't make much difference, she had to make sure that they didn't get in the way. She didn't care for their well-being, but it was just something about the water nin, the kunoichi felt like she had to make sure he was alright before she left. And that couldn't be guaranteed with the Akatsuki near him.

"Akatsuki." the Uchiha growled. "Where is Itachi?" he demanded, readying his weapon. He didn't seem to notice her or who she was and for that she was grateful, even though he was sure to notice her sooner or later, though she hoped it was later. Preferably never, but she highly doubted that, she never had that kind of luck.

"Our business is not with you." growled Deidara, his attention never leaving Sakura's frowning expression.

"Should Tobi capture the shinobi, Deidara-senpai?"

Sakura's expression turned serious as she narrowed her eyes at the masked male and let out a fierce growl, "Don't you dare." Her growl deepened when the blonde took a step toward her, a smirk on his face. Sakura readied her scythe, the bell's jingling sounding like the only pure thing in the area. "Take one more step and I swear I'll rearrange that pretty face of yours!"

Deidara stood still as he glared at the female, pure rage flaring in his blue orb. Sakura could feel the eyes of everyone around her on her back as she took cautious steps forward. Deidara's eyebrow twitched when Sakura suddenly appeared before him.

"I don't care what happens to them but you're business is with me." she snarled. "So while I'm in your presence, you will focus only on me." she glared up at him before swinging her scythe up that was aimed for his face. He dodged the attack by jumping backward. Before he even had time to think about his next move, Sakura was above him, or more precisely, on him. The kunoichi had managed to get on top of his shoulders and stood there. She was kneeling down with her scythe at his throat, pressing deadly into the skin there. Her other hand was clamped at the back of his neck and he found that he couldn't move.

"Bitch." he snapped. "What did you do?!"

"No need for foul language, yeah." she mocked, smiling as she trailed her finger up and down the back of his neck. She smirked when she felt the hair there stand on end at the sensation. "One wrong move from your friend there and you'll be dead before either of you realize it."

"Sakura-chan!" whined Tobi, making her turn a glare towards him. "Why won't you come with us?"

"I don't want to, Tobi." she replied simply, as if it were the most obvious reason there was in the world.

"Why the hell can't I move?!"

Sakura frowned and cringed from the loud voice below her before looking back down at him. "My chakra has made it's way into your spinal cord, currently immobilizing you."

"You bitch! If we didn't need you, I'd kill you right now!"

The pink haired kunoichi's frown deepened and lifted up the hand that held her scythe. Placing the handle into her mouth, she outstretched her arm. Nobody had expected what she did next. Instead of making a hand sign, she merely flicked her wrist and her chakra soured out of her palm in a huge gust of wind, knocking into Tobi. He flew into the ground in pain and shock, dust and dirt flying around him. Sakura kicked her feet off of Deidara's shoulders and swung them back in the air, bringing the blonde male with her. She flipped them around and threw him into the ground, head first. The impact was incredible as a large cloud of dirt and smoke filled the area.

Quickly grabbing a hold of an unconscious Deidara, Sakura made her way to Tobi and instantly hit a pressure point to knock him out as well. She picked him up and threw him over her shoulder, with the blonde slung over her other. Letting out a sigh, she walked over to a completely shocked weapons vendor.

"Do you have any rope?"

He nodded lamely and handed her a decent length rope, not even bothering to ask her to pay. She nodded her thanks and suddenly disappeared. Five miles away from the village, Sakura was tying up the duo to a tree, making sure that they couldn't use their hands to get out. She put some of her chakra into the rope, it would be harder to break but it would no doubt hold them off for a while. After making sure the knot was nice and tight, she headed off back toward the village. She at least wanted to get something good to eat before she headed off on her journey. It was about time that she separated herself from that group and she doubted that the leader of it would want her to be around. At least she could keep the two Akatsuki members away from the water ninja. She doubted that they would do anything to the villagers unless provoked so they were safe for the time being.

Sakura calmly walked into the village and looked around, not at all surprised when the villagers were giving her shocked and apologetic looks. It was always like that when she walked through the area, which most of the time, someone always followed her there and she had to deal with them. Letting out a deep sigh, she stopped in the center of the road, an unexpected blockade stopping her from proceeding. The pinkette closed her eyes and tilted her head to the side. Opening her eyes, she frowned at the young Uchiha. His face was stoic, expressionless, as always. His heartbeat was normal and he seemed completely unfazed by her, which made her frown deepen.

"Your silence is not appreciated here." she spoke, straightening her head to look at him properly. "If you have nothing to say to me then let me pass."

"What makes you think you can't pass?"

Sakura narrowed her eyes at the cold male. That was the one thing she could actually sense from him at the moment; he didn't want to let her by, though she didn't understand why. "What do you want?" she asked, her voice firm and calm.

He didn't reply to her, just stared at her, his eyes narrowing the longer she stared back at him. Her own expression was stoic and she could tell that it was getting to him, the fact that he couldn't read her like he used to. Something else that she was grateful to Sanuko for; helping her to control most of her emotions, at least on the outside.

Sakura closed her eyes and sighed. Focusing her attention back on the path, she continued walking anyway. Nobody said anything or tried to stop her as she passed the Uchiha, Karin, and Juugo. Suigetsu stood in the back and was giving her an incredulous look. She stopped beside him, her eyes facing forward as she whispered quietly, "Thank you."

His purple orbs furrowed for a moment before he turned his head to look at her, though she didn't look at him. "For what?"

She didn't answer for a moment, instead she tilted her head to give him a small smile. "For being my pack, even for a little while."

Without waiting for his response, Sakura turned her head and walked off, the small sound of her bell echoing across the road.

"What did she say to you, Suigetsu?" asked the red head curiously.

His wide, purple eyes stared after the pinkette, his mouth slightly agape. "She called me her pack."

"What does that mean?" the female questioned, placing her hand on her hip.

"Is she the wolf that followed us?" asked Juugo calmly as he watched the female continue to walk into the distance.

"It looks like it." Karin replied. "I still want to know what she meant by pack, though."

"'Pack' is the term for a family of wolves." spoke an elderly voice from beside them. The group looked to their right to see an old man with a cane next to them. He had long, gray hair that rode down his back in waves. His tired eyes were closed yet it seemed he could see just fine as he addressed the group. There was an aura about him that said his wise beyond his years. "Wolves are very protective of their pack, thus explaining why she pushed him out of danger from those cloaked fellas."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed at the old man. "But she _isn't_ a wolf."

The old man tilted his head to regard the dark haired male. "And what makes ye so quick to judge?" he asked calmly.

The Uchiha glared at the elderly man. "I've known her since we were children. She isn't a wolf."

"Ah." the old man lifted up his head. "But do ye _really_ know her? That lass has been here a number of times and I believe I know her more than ye thinks ye do."

Sasuke let out a low growl and had to suppress his anger directed toward the old man.

"How much do you know about her?" asked the water ninja curiously as he walked up to the old man.

The man turned his head to look at the silver haired male skeptically. "Although I would like to tell ye, young man, I'm afraid ye would have to ask the lass for that kind of information."

He nodded his head in understanding, making everyone look at him curiously.

~_~SCENE CHANGE~~_

Before she had exited the village, she had stopped at a clothing shop and bought a white cloak with a hood. She wore it over her shoulders, her hair hanging loosely on the outside of it as she walked out of the village, just like the many times she had before. She had caused a bit of trouble with the person in charge years before, causing her to destroy some of the lord's buildings in anger as he struggled to capture her. That was one of the reasons why some of the villagers feared her, though she could sense their gratitude. The way she stood up to the horrid lord caused the town to revolt and throw the man out. The old man that she had befriended was put in charge and Sakura was happy for him. He was wise and kind and she had confided in him a number of times. She would have to go back to actually visit after her trip to Suna. But then again, why did she have to leave for Suna at that moment? After all, she didn't even get anything to eat. The old man would be disappointed.

Sighing, Sakura did a few hand signs and her body disappeared in a cloud of smoke. She reappeared behind the elderly man she had befriended and hung herself over his shoulder, ignoring the presence of the other four in front of them.

"Hey, grandpa. I have a favor to ask." she said, smirking.

The old man seemed to frown as he tilted his head to look up at her. "Such disrespect. I can tell Sanuko still has a hold of ye."

Sakura closed her eyes and chuckled at the old man. "Yeah, I still got a little bit of Elder Sanuko in there."

Sakura got off of the old man and smiled as he turned toward her. "Alright, lets get ye some food."

The kunoichi's smile brightened at the old man that always seemed to know what she wanted, though she wasn't surprised. "Thanks."

He nodded and motioned to the other four to follow as he and Sakura began walking. The group looked at them quizzically for a moment before nodding and walking behind the odd duo. Turning his head forward, he spoke to the female walking behind him. "I would've thought that ye would be out of the village by now."

Sakura replied calmly, "I was out of the village a second ago, but then I remembered I didn't get to eat anything yet."

The old man nodded his head in understanding. Each time that Sakura came to the village, the old man would pester her about eating every chance he had. He had been a grandfather to her ever since she helped him become the village's elder and he would make she sure she properly ate since she would sometimes go days without eating.

"Where do ye plan on traveling next, lass?"

The kunoichi replied without any hesitation in her voice. "Suna is about a week of traveling away and I think a change of scenery would be nice."

"I imagine it would be." he chuckled.

Villagers were walking down the streets, talking and laughing amongst themselves as if completely forgetting about the incident not half a hour before. It was normal for them when the pink haired kunoichi came into town with trouble following her, though she would always take care of it. Then the civilians would go back to their everyday business.

Sakura scowled when a little boy stepped a few yards away in front of them. His hands were on his hips and he was frowning deeply. His brown eyes were narrowed and his shoulder length, black hair was blowing in the wind. The group stopped to look at him, though Sakura continued to walk until she stood directly in front of him.

"What do you want, Jinji?" she asked, her voice calm as she looked down at him.

Said boy, that had to be around eight years old, raised his arm to point at her. "Didn't you hear what I said the last time you came here?" he semi-shouted in a threatening voice, the most threatening a child could possibly sound.

Sakura tilted her head to the side as if trying to remember what the boy's last words were. Finally, after a moment of silence, she straightened her head and shrugged. "Nope."

The boy growled at her before stomping his foot in the ground. "I'm gonna kick your ass, Sakura!"

The pink haired frowned while the people around them chuckled at the scene. Her eyebrows furrowed for a moment before she replied, "Who the hell are you learning that kind of language from?"

"I believe that would be ye." the old man chuckled.

She shrugged again and didn't move out of the way when the boy ran up to her and kicked her in the shin. The pinkette hissed and glared down at the boy. "You're lucky you're a child, you little twerp!" Sakura's fists clenched as he jumped back slightly and smirked up at her.

"Or what?!"

"I'd kick your ass, that's what!" she barked, pointing down at him.

The little boy held up a fist at her and shouted enthusiastically, "Bring it on!"

Sakura shrugged and began to walk passed him. "Can't, gotta go eat."

Jinji frowned and turned around with a cute pout aimed at the back of her head as she continued to walk away. "Aww."

"Maybe later, if grandpa doesn't need me." she waved her hand in parting.

Instantly, the frown on the boy's face turned into a bright smile and he nodded. "Alright!"

~_~SCENE CHANGE~~_

"That boy will never learn." the elder chuckled as the group sat in a decent sized room that had a wooden table in the center of it. Everyone sat on the floor, their legs folded under the table, while dish after dish of food was placed on the wooden table before them. Sakura sat across the table from the elder, Suigetsu on her right and the Uchiha on her left. She didn't mind, there was plenty of space so she wouldn't accidentally touch either of them. Karin was seated at the end of the table beside Sasuke while Juugo sat at the other end of the table next to Suigetsu. Behind the old man, a large, lit fireplace was built into the wall. It was a casual room, very easy to get comfortable in. That was another thing Sakura respected about the old man, although he was the village's leader, he never asked for more than what his own villagers had. Although everyone had insisted he get a servant because of his old age.

The elderly one spoke first while Sakura watched him, her expression serious. "So, the Akatsuki are after ye now?"

The pinkette nodded. "I'm afraid so."

"Do ye know why?" he asked before sipping at the hot tea cup that was placed in front of him.

Sakura could feel the servant walking around the room, serving the different amounts of food onto the table that was slowly starting to become packed. "I have no idea. The only information I have is the names of the two from earlier today. I vaguely know the powers of two of the members."

The kunoichi could feel the curiosity seeping off of the one to her left. Without taking her eyes off of the elder, she asked calmly, "What is it, Sasuke?"

He spoke without hesitation, "Have you encountered Itachi?"

She didn't recognize the name and it definitely wasn't one of the two from earlier. Though she recalled him asking the cloaked nins about him, so Itachi had to be in the Akatsuki. She only encountered one other member, but if she was right about her suspicions, that wasn't him.

"Is that your brother?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Then no, I haven't." she replied, her voice calm and gentle.

"Are you sure about that?"

Sakura looked down at the end of the table to meet the face of the one that questioned her. Slightly frowning at the suspicious look the female was giving her, she replied, "Since they are brothers, I'd imagine that they look alike. You saw two of the three Akatsuki members that I've encountered, the other being a red head." Sakura's frown turned into a small scowl as she continued, "If that is not good enough for you then you can go ask the member directly if they're related."

Ignoring her glare, Sakura turned her attention back to the grinning elder. Both of their expressions turned serious as she asked, "Have any scouts appeared since last time?"

The old man let out a sigh and nodded. "Three; two males and one female. They were asking about a pink haired kunoichi, but everyone told them that we haven't seen one."

Sakura nodded, a small smile tilting up the side of her mouth, "Thank you."

He nodded in return and smiled softly at her. Soon, they began eating and the old man kept up mindless chat about the village with the pink haired kunoichi.

"I see ye be getting some gray hair there." the elder chuckled.

Sakura stopped mid bite and frowned at the old man. "That's not nice and its silver." His chuckle turned into a soft laugh. "I told Sanuko that it was because she was stressing me out."

"Let me guess, she used her cane?" he laughed, opening his eyes for the first time that day and everyone was met with a beautiful blue. His orbs were filled with amusement and mirth.

"Yeah." Sakura nodded, smiling brightly. Though her smile turned into a smirk as she continued, "Managed to break it before I left."

The old man let out a hearty laugh at her comment. "She came here the very next day, shoutin' out atrocities and demadin' that I make her another one."

Sakura's face fell and filled with horror. "You didn't, did you?"

"I had to." he frowned in return. The kunoichi couldn't stop her eye from twitching as she stared at the man in shock. "Sorry." he mumbled. Though she could hear the amusement laced in his voice.

~_~SCENE CHANGE~~_

"Are you really heading off to Suna?"

Jade and cerulean orbs turned to look at the male behind her. She was about to cross the gates to the village when his voice stopped her. The group was looking at her with their own expressions, though she didn't care to see them.

"Yeah, I can't stay in one place for too long." She watched as the water ninja's frown deepened.

"Why aren't you in Konoha?"

Sakura's gaze shifted to the male all the way in the back, both of their expressions stoic. She couldn't sense anything abnormal about him. His heartbeat and scent were normal, showing no emotion whatsoever. Disregarding his demeanor, she turned around and began to walk away.

"Its not your concern."

She could sense the irritation rolling off of him then and it brought upon a sense of satisfaction for her. Sensing three chakra signatures, she had to suppress a groan and stopped in her tracks, her white cloak blowing in the wind that passed by them. The kunoichi wasn't sure how she should feel about their arrival, she barely recognized two of them but the third was totally knew to her, never having felt it before. Instinct was telling her to run, to escape before she could see the disappointment in those blue eyes.

Turning around to look in the distance behind the group, Sakura's multicolored eyes filled with a sort of sorrow as the group got closer. Her lips let out a silent whisper of her old teammate's name. "Naruto."

Sasuke's eyes widened a bit before turning back stoic and he turned to look around, the group following their gaze to land on the group that just appeared behind them.

Sakura watched as the blonde's eyes filled with so many emotions, it was hard to tell which he felt mostly at that moment. She saw relief, sorrow, anger, joy, and so many more that she couldn't name thoroughly flash through his wide, blue orbs as he stared at her. Sakura didn't even register the other two's presence as they stood next to him.

"Back for more?" she heard the Uchiha state calmly. Though it looked like the blonde hadn't heard him as he continued to stare at the pink haired missing nin. Sakura could feel shame rush through her body and she had to suppress a low whine at seeing his, now, pained expression.

"Sakura." Naruto whispered low, low enough so that nobody could hear it, but she did, and she could hear the pain laced in it. The sound almost had her letting out a whine. The kunoichi couldn't blame him for feeling betrayed. Nobody had known the truth of her family's death or the reason why she had left suddenly. Nobody knew and nobody had seen or heard from her since then. A masculine voice made her glance over to the one it had come from.

"Is she the one we're looking for, Kakashi-sensei?"

Sakura's eyes raked over the male's body, taking in every detail of him to make sure she could avoid him in the future. He was pale, extremely pale and his flat stomach was exposed for the world to see. Though that wasn't what struck Sakura as odd. It was the fact that there were absolutely no emotions coming from him. Sakura couldn't scent out any from the male like she could with everyone else, in fact, if she couldn't hear the vague beatings of his heart, she would think that he was a mere doll. The only scent she could gather from him was that of ink and paint.

"Yes."

Jade and cerulean eyes moved over to look at her former sensei; Kakashi. He was staring at her and she could tell that he was surprised to see her, along with a sense of disappointment. Sakura's attention was brought back to the pale male.

"Then why do we wait, possibly giving her enough time to figure out an escape?"

Sakura narrowed her eyes at the male, though he seemed unaffected as he continued to stare at her. She could feel everyone around her stare at her for her next possible move. She could smell the tension building in the air, mostly between herself, Kakashi, and Sasuke. What he was so upset about, she didn't know and particularly didn't care, though she figured it was because he was currently being ignored.

The kunoichi's eyes narrowed further and she let out a low snarl as the pale one took a step towards her. He continued to take slow, calm steps but soon stopped when a menacing growl left her lips. Everyone around her seemed shocked by her reaction, but Sakura ignored them and stepped into a battle stance, her left hand held out in front of her, her right over her scythe's handle, and her legs spread apart for balance. Her cloak was open but she was grateful that they still couldn't see the weapon under her palm, giving her a slight advantage.

"Sakura."

Her eyes softened when she looked over at the blonde walking toward her. He had a frown on his face and his eyes were weak as he looked at her. As if her body had a mind of it's own, her stance slackened and her hands fell to her side.

Their sensei's voice accompanied her own as they spoke his name, her voice weakly whilst his cautiously, "Naruto."

The blonde stopped a few yards in front of her and he stared into her eyes, his blue orbs speaking volumes to her and she couldn't take it much more.

"Naruto, step back." Kakashi spoke, his voice alarming.

Sakura fought back a deep frown, forcing her face and voice to remain calm despite the inner sadness she felt. "You better listen to your sensei, Naruto." Before he even had time to reply, Sakura was jumping back away from him, intending on fleeing. But suddenly, there was a human body behind her, blocking her from getting away. Spinning around, her feet sliding across the ground and bringing up dirt, Sakura raised her hand and flicked her wrist. Just like earlier that day when she had done it to Tobi, chakra exploded from her palm and whipped around toward the male, slinging him backward upon impact.

Jumping over to the shocked jounin, she picked him up by the front of his shirt and quickly threw him over to the shocked duo. Seeing that they were distracted enough, she used that to her advantage and performed a hand sign. Her cloaked body quickly disappeared, leaving no trace that she was there in the first place other than a groaning Kakashi on the ground.

Naruto did his best to help up his sensei off of the ground, Sai helping him. Once their sensei seemed to situate himself properly, Naruto turned a nasty glare to the expressionless Uchiha.

"Why didn't you stop her?!" he yelled.

Sasuke's expression didn't change as he replied, "I wasn't aware I had to."

The blonde's body convulsed with so many emotions, it was hard not to explode at the calm and cold male, much less focus on any set emotion. Finally, settling on the feeling of defeat, Naruto let his body slump to the ground as he hit it with his fist repetitively.

"Damnit! She was _right_ in front of us and she got away!" he yelled mostly at himself.

"Naruto."

"What is it, Sai?" the blonde croaked out, glaring at the ground.

"I believe the kunoichi is behind us." the artist replied casually, him and Kakashi turning around to see the pinkette, indeed, standing behind them. Naruto abruptly stood up and whipped his body around to look at Sakura standing a few yards away from them, with her back to them and her hair and cloak whipping in the wind.

"Hey, Sasuke." she called out, reaching into the pouch at her waist.

"What?" she could hear the irritation and curiosity in his voice, though he did well to cover it up.

Tossing the small bag of money through the air behind her, it's destination to the Uchiha, she replied calmly. "Give this to the elder for any damage I may cause, please? Thanks." When she heard it land into his hands, she threw off her cloak and got into a battle stance, scenting that the group of three were getting closer.

"Kakashi-sensei?" she spoke, her voice sounding a bit hesitant.

It was silent for a moment, him cautious before he replied, "What is it?"

"You better stay back." she said firmly so he wouldn't interfere and not a moment later, three Akatsuki cloaks revealed themselves in front of them.

Her expression and body language showed how serious she was, her usual demeanor gone. Sakura was in no mood to play around, she cared too much about the people around her; the villagers, the water ninja, Naruto and Kakashi. She wouldn't let them be harmed, and thankfully, the villagers were all inside their houses and stores, safe from the battle that was about to begin. Apparently she just couldn't get a break.

Sakura looked over the three males carefully. Deidara was glaring at her immensely while the other still had that emotionless expression on. She found that him and the new member of Team Seven were very much alike, although the red head in front of her didn't seem to have very much of a heartbeat. Sakura couldn't see Tobi's expression through his mask and he seemed to throw her off. She couldn't tell what it was though, she would have to pay more attention to him after the villagers were completely safe from them. Hopefully she would be able to see him actually fighting as well, she still didn't know what his abilities consisted of.

"Akatsuki." Kakashi growled, readying a kunai.

"I see you brought reinforcements." Deidara sneered at her, making Sakura narrow her eyes at him even more. "Too bad they won't do you any good, un."

The kunoichi sneered back at him, "I see you brought your boyfriend this time! Too bad I'm gonna kick his ass too!"

The blonde Akatsuki let out a low growl and reached into his pocket to ready an explosive. Sakura watched carefully as he did so, trying to gather more information on his abilities. When a clay figure was spat out of the mouths of his hand, Sakura immediately knew what is was and prepared to jump out of the way. However, the kunoichi found that she couldn't move her body and her eyes widened as the explosive was thrown under her. The ground cried out as the bomb went off, throwing dirt and rubble all over the place as the area went up in smoke. Sakura gritted her teeth in pain, her arms not being able to move to block most of the damage.

"Sakura!"

"Stay where you are Naruto!" she yelled, spitting out dirt and blood onto the ground. Using the smoke to her advantage and feeling the chakra strings holding her immobile slacken, she created a shadow clone and jumped out of the area stealthily. Nobody seemed to notice her move as she stood on one of the rooftops, looking down at the battle. Her clone appeared gravely injured, but the kunoichi knew better, as she knelt one knee on the ground and breathed heavily. Her eyes wandered down to the one closest to her, the one whose name she didn't know. Perfect.

Sakura carefully moved, seeing as how they figured out that the one in front of them was a fake since a meager attack like the one Deidara used wouldn't bring her down that easily. In less than a second, the pink haired kunoichi was behind the red haired man, holding the back of his neck and sending her chakra throughout his wooden body. His body didn't move, even as her clone got up and charged a chakra powered fist into the ground in front of Deidara.

"Sasori-danna!" the blonde yelled when he caught sight of the red head not moving from Sakura's grasp. His attention was quickly brought back to the clone in front of him as she threw another punch at him, aiming for his head.

Resting her head on the red head's shoulder, clearly not caring about personal space, she whispered in his ear. "I'm glad you're not fighting me, because if you did try to resist then you could severely caught off your chakra network forever and make yourself permanently paralyzed." She continued in a low, cold voice, "Now what do you want with me?"

"I will not take threats from you, kunoichi." he replied calmly, making Sakura frown at him before turning her attention to look at everyone around her. Her clone was keeping the blonde occupied. It seemed his specialty was in long ranged attacks, as she thought. Tobi was standing still, watching her carefully, he seemed to remember when she had done the same thing to the blonde earlier that day and wasn't about to take any chances with the puppet in front of her.

Her multicolored eyes shifted to look at the rest of them in front of her. Everyone except Kakashi, Sasuke, and the artist were giving her anxious looks. Sasuke's expression was one of boredom while the artist's was blank. Kakashi was staring at her, the look he had was one of contemplation and seriousness.

Looking up at the sky, she noted that the sun was drawing nigh and she wondered if she would get any sleep that night. Most likely not. Sakura let out a sigh and then braced herself for a nearby explosion.

Deidara gritted his teeth at the female. He had hoped that the attack near her would've made her move and let go of Sasori, but she didn't budge when the explosion nicked her. The smoke cleared to show that she had wounds going along her arms and leg, bleeding from the huge gashes.

Sakura let out a low growl and hit a few pressure points on the male's neck in front of her, sending out chakra to the points as well. She wasn't sure if it would work on him or not considering he was made of wood, but she was relieved as his body slumped down against her. It was a long shot and it had been extremely tricky, but it had worked and she was glad. Grabbing him by the back of his cloak, she slung him over her shoulder, causing her to grunt under his weight. For someone that looked so scrawny, he sure weighed a ton.

Doing a few hand signs with her free hand, she twisted her wrists a few times and watched as a tornado flew out of her palm, heading straight for Deidara's back. The blonde whipped his head around at the approaching sound and his eyes widened at the force and speed of it, but it was too late. The clone's chakra enhanced fist landed into the blonde's stomach, sending him flying backwards into the wind attack.

What happened next went by so quickly, the next thing everybody saw was Sakura throwing the two unconscious bodies over to the masked man. He caught the two effortlessly and continued to stare at her.

"Take them to your leader, Tobi."

They stared at each other for a moment before he nodded in understanding, "Tobi thanks you, Sakura-chan."

Sakura nodded her head and watched as he suddenly disappeared. Yes, she would have to keep an eye on that one, something wasn't right about him.

"Why didn't you kill them?!"

The kunoichi turned around to an enraged Naruto. She could smell the anger and frustration running off from him. She blinked up at him, her expression calm, though on the inside she did feel a bit guilty. But she couldn't kill them, if she did then that would mean that even more of the Akatsuki would be after her, for a very known reason; vengeance, and they would most certainly kill her for the act.

She continued to stare at the blonde as he seethed. "Do you have any idea what they have done?!" Tears started to well in his eyes, making Sakura frown, as he clenched his fists and glared at the ground. "Because of those two, Gaara is dead."

Why did that name sound so familiar? The kunoichi quirked an eyebrow as she looked over at Kakashi. "Gaara?"

"He was the Sand ninja that Lee and Sasuke fought at the chuunin exams." her old sensei replied calmly.

Tilting her head to the side, Sakura began to contemplate her next move when Naruto spoke back up, his voice weak.

"He was the Kazekage and now because he's dead, Suna is falling apart."

'Suna? Hmm. . .' Sakura straightened her head as she looked back over at Naruto. Letting out a sigh, she made up her decision and began to walk over to her old teammate. Stopping a few feet in front of him, she waited for him to look fully up at her. Seeing that she had his attention, she gave him a small smile. "Can you take me to him?"

"Why?" he asked skeptically.

Before she could reply, Kakashi spoke up and she tilted her head to look up at his curious gaze. "What are you planning, Sakura?"

At that moment, the kunoichi could feel Sasuke's group leave and surprisingly end up at the elder's house like she had asked. Turning her attention back to the blonde in front of her, she replied, her voice hopeful, "Please, Naruto, take me to him."

He stared at her for another moment, silent, until nodding. The group began to set off in a fast run, Naruto leading the way. The kunoichi wasn't about to kill the two Akatsuki members just yet, but she wanted to be sure that Naruto didn't hold any grudges against her for not doing that. She remembered the red head now, and if she remembered correctly, he was a force to be reckoned with when they were children and had almost killed the young Uchiha. He had seemed so evil and sinister then, but Naruto was clearly upset by the fact that he was dead. She would trust in his judgment.

Please review what you think. :)


	3. Bringing Back the Dead

Thank you for the reviews. I really appreciate it and I hope you guys enjoy this chapter just as much :)

*I've noticed that my scene changes aren't separated like they're supposed to be. I apologize for any confusion that may have caused so I went back and made it clearer that the scene changes.

Chapter 3: Bringing Back the Dead

Night came soon enough and the group made up camp. She was left sitting by a fire with Kakashi watching her every move while the artist scouted out the area and Naruto searched for food. It was odd being in their presence again, extremely odd. And the copy ninja's hard gaze on her did nothing to calm her nerves. She could smell his curiosity about her, yet he said nothing to her. Before the others made it back to the camp, she decided to question the man while she stared into the flames before her.

"What is it, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Even after so many years, you still call me 'sensei'?" she could hear the amusement in his voice as he replied to her, but then his voice turned serious. "Why did you leave, Sakura?"

She didn't hesitate in her answer. It was calm and smooth. "My family." It wasn't the whole truth but that event was the catalyst that caused her to leave.

"You didn't really murder them, did you?" he asked.

"No. I believe that is what the elders have said." Her eyes darkened in anger at the memory. At that moment, the odd duo came back from their respectable duties and settled down. Her multicolored eyes watched as the blonde of the group placed two fish on the ground and the pale male declared that the area was clear. Kakashi nodded at him and turned his gaze to the two, small fish flapping around on the ground.

"Is that all you could catch, Naruto?" he asked incredulously. Sakura couldn't fight back a smile as said boy stuck out his lip in a pout.

"That's all I could find out here, Kakashi-sensei!"

"I believe it would be wise to lower your volume lest you give away our position to any ninja that might pass by, Dickless."

Sakura tilted her head to the side in slight amusement and curiosity as Naruto glared at the male giving him a smile. Her nose twitched as she looked at him, or more so, the smile the male adorned. Anyone could tell that it was fake. The kunoichi sighed and stood up, knocking off the dirt that was on her shorts.

Kakashi turned to look at her. "Where are you going?"

Placing a head on her hip and looking over at him, she smiled softly at him. "I'm going to get us dinner since someone else had such a hard time with it."

She laughed when the blonde let out an aggravated whine. But then her cheery mood was quickly replaced with annoyance when the artist spoke up. "Should we really allow her to go out into the woods by herself? She is after all, a traitor."

Before anyone else could answer, Sakura growled, "Well if you don't trust me to not run off, then why don't you go with me?"

"That sounds like a good idea." their sensei chuckled. Sakura continued to glare at the male as they walked into a nearby forest. He gave her a fake smile that aggravated the kunoichi before she decided on ignoring him. Her eyes roamed through the dark trees and she sniffed the area for any sign of moving life. They continued to walk for a few minutes, both silent, until she caught an animal's scent; a deer.

Sai stopped behind the kunoichi as she paused her walking and clasped her hand on the handle of her scythe. She gracefully and quietly flew through the area, only stopping once again when she caught sight of the animal. It was a decent size and after a moment, it was dead, falling to the grassy earth as Sakura pulled her weapon back by it's chain.

The kunoichi walked over to it and picked it up, throwing the dead animal over her shoulder and being careful not to get any blood on her clothes from it's open wound to the heart. They ran back to the camp in silence and was met with the face of a pouting Naruto, clearly upset that the kunoichi was able to get dinner when he wasn't.

Sighing, Sakura placed the dead animal on the ground near the fire and placed her scythe down beside her. She pulled out a kunai, not wanting to stain her weapon with the animal's blood any further, and begin to skin the deer.

"Where'd you learn how to do that?" asked Naruto as he stared at her, awestruck. Sai sat down next to the blonde, putting him in between Naruto and Kakashi.

Sakura didn't look up from her work as she replied, "I had to learn to get my own food when a lived in the woods."

"You lived in the woods?" the copy ninja asked, his curiosity clear to the kunoichi.

She nodded her head. "For almost four years."

"All by yourself?" he asked.

"Not really." she said, "I lived with this evil, old lady with a bad temper and a cane."

"Why don't you come back with us, Sakura?" the blonde suddenly asked. Sakura's face fell as she looked back over to the blonde. His expression was hopeful and it caused her heart to ache.

"I can't Naruto." she murmured.

"Why not?" he whined. The kunoichi looked away from him and sorrowfully into the fire before her.

"Sakura." her old sensei called out.

"Hmm?" she hummed without looking away.

"Look at me for a moment." he spoke.

Sighing, she turned her eyes over to look at her sensei staring blankly at her. After a moment of silence, he closed his visible eye. "As I thought."

Tilting her head to the side, Sakura wondered what he was speaking about.

"What is it, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked.

"Her eyes, they changed."

"What?" the blonde practically yelled while the kunoichi let out a weak "Oh.". So that was what he wanted.

"Were they not the same when you last saw her?" the artist asked emotionlessly.

Sakura turned to watch as the blonde male walked over to her and leaned down to look at her face. His eyes searched hers and then after a moment, his face lid up incredulously. "What happened to your eye?!" he yelled, leaning back and pointing his index finger at her face.

Her eyes narrowed at the offending appandage. How had he _not_ noticed it when he was staring at her earlier that day? "Naruto, get your finger out of my face." she growled and was satisfied when he did so and plopped down on the ground next to her, crossing his arms and legs. "Its hard to explain why my appearance changed slightly and the story is rather boring so I doubt you want to know."

The blonde pouted at her and she turned a glare to the jounin as he spoke up in an amused tone. "Oh, I think we all want to know this story, Sakura."

Putting on a fake, sweet smile, she replied, "Unfortunately, sensei, I doubt _all_ of you want to know."

The kunoichi was referring to the artist and the copy ninja knew it, although the blonde didn't seem to catch on as he pouted. "Come on, Sakura. Tell us!"

The kunoichi closed her eyes and sighed.

Twenty minutes passed by and the pinkette had somehow gotten the blonde shinobi to drop the subject on her story. It wasn't that she didn't want them to know, she would've loved to catch up with her old friend, but she didn't want to give away information that they could possibly use against her to bring her back.

Her eyes searched through the camp, skimming over the three males as they did their own things, which consisted of Kakashi reading from his book, Naruto bugging the pale haired one as the other seemed to be drawing in a sketchbook. Very soon, a spicy sort of scent filled her nostrils and Sakura was eager to find out where it was coming from. Her orbs shifted from the two males sitting by the fire over to the copy ninja to see that he was entirely focused on the book in his hand. Sakura's nostrils flared for a moment and she snorted when she realized what the scent was.

'Ugh, that's so gross.' she inwardly grimaced. The two teenagers looked over at her.

"What is it, Sakura?" Naruto asked, giving her a curious look.

The kunoichi looked away from the white haired male and back into the flames before her. "I just find it funny that Kakashi-sensei still reads those books." Said male continued to ignore her and she couldn't help but frown deeply as the scent got stronger.

"What's wrong?" the blonde asked, concern now etched in his voice and face.

"Nothing." she answered calmly. She wasn't sure what their reactions would be if she told them that she was uncomfortable because she could smell their sensei's arousal.

"If nothing is wrong then why do you look so distraught?"

Sakura looked up and narrowed her eyes at the pale male staring blankly back at her. "Why do you smile when you obviously aren't happy?"

This seemed to gather Kakashi's attention as he looked up at the kunoichi, Naruto staring at her as well.

"S-Sakura?" the blonde mumbled. Said female ignored him and the uneasiness coming from him, her focus solely on the artist in front of her.

After a moment of silence, she turned her head and stood up. "Never mind. It's not my business." Everyone watched her as she sat down against the trunk of a nearby tree and closed her eyes.

~_~SCENE CHANGE~~_

The trip was about three days until they made it to a small clearing with a cliff looking over two grave sites. Sakura looked them over for a moment as the group stood behind her, cautiously and curiously.

"Which one is Gaara in?" she asked calmly.

"The one on the right." Naruto replied, his voice low, clearly upset but trying his best to hide it. "Lady Chiyo is on the left."

"How long has he been dead?" she asked, taking in the information calmly.

"A few months. What do you plan on doing, Sakura?" spoke Kakashi.

"You'll see." she replied. Clasping her hands together, she continued, "Its best if you step back." Hearing them back away, she began performing numerous hand signs in lightening speed. When they were completed, she lifted her hand above the grave. Sakura watched as the dirt started to move around slowly, until finally, the grave started to shift around violently.

"What are you doing?" Naruto yelled as he spotted Gaara being lifted from underneath the dirt.

The kunoichi ignored him and continued with her task, looking over the pale, lifeless body of the Sand ninja. She gently grabbed his body and placed him on the flat ground nearby. Biting her thumb so that it bled, she circled the male and began to smear her blood in complicated designs.

"A summoning jutsu?" the copy ninja asked skeptically.

"For the most part." she replied, continuing with the designs that circled around the male's body. "It will bring back his soul but the jutsu is more complicated than its made out to be." She could tell that Kakashi was processing her words but he didn't retort. Fortunately, Naruto was quiet as she continued.

After ten minutes of silence passed by, Sakura was finished with the design around the deceased male and she began to make even more complicated hand signs. Finally, Sakura bit her lip in concentration and her hand grew a bright green before she slammed her hand into the red head's chest, right above his heart. Almost instantly, sand began to spin around the duo as she pumped her healing chakra into him. Since he had been dead for so long, his heart would be extremely weak. Even if she brought his soul back, the body wouldn't be able to handle it and he would still be dead.

The sand grew fiercer around them for a split moment until settling on the ground beside them, as if resting after a long journey. Sakura pulled her hand back and watched while the Sand nin's eyes slowly fluttered open and the color started to flow through his cheeks once again.

"Gaara!" Naruto gasped before running over to them. His eyes were watery with tears as he fell to his knees and leaned over the male.

Sakura smiled at him as Gaara turned his attention to the blonde, giving him a quizzical look. "N-Naruto?" he croaked. The kunoichi could very clearly smell his confusion and the blonde's relief and happiness. It made her heart swell. Seeing that Gaara was about to get up, Sakura reached out a hand and gently pushed him back down so that his back was fully on the earth.

"Don't get up. You'll need as much rest as you can get."

He gave her a quizzical look before nodding and closing his eyes. This allowed her access and she took advantage of it as she brought two glowing, green palms to his temples. Before anyone could say anything, she explained, "I can imagine how much your head hurts. Let me help you."

~~_SCENE CHANGE~~_

"Thank you, Sakura."

The kunoichi looked up to see Naruto standing up in front of her, giving her a grateful smile. She smiled back at him and looked back down at the male sleeping beside her. The blonde had thanked her so many times during the day, it was shocking how each one of them had never stopped sounding genuine.

"Suna isn't that far away. If I remember correctly, he had siblings. I'm sure they'll be happy to see him."

"I do not understand." spoke a calm, emotionless voice, making Sakura turn to look at the owner of it. "Why would you bring him back when you had no obligation to?"

The kunoichi regarded the artist carefully, raising a pink eyebrow in contemplation. He sure was an odd case. She had watched him closely the past few days and she had her suspicions.

"You don't have any emotions, do you?"

His dark eyes slightly widened and she could get the sense that she had surprised him, though she wasn't sure if he knew that he was or not. She had gotten the feeling that he wasn't aware of his emotions that he had clearly buried deep down and that he didn't know how to handle them. It took her awhile to notice it, but the emotions were definitely there. They just didn't get a chance to show themselves.

"What makes you say that, Sakura?" asked their sensei curiously, looking up from his copy of _Icha Icha_ to look up at her. She didn't meet his gaze as she continued to stare at the artist.

"I do not." he replied calmly. "However, I do not wish to tell someone I do not trust the reasons for such a case."

Sakura nodded at him, "Fair enough." She then turned her attention back to the male resting beside her. "How did he die?" she asked no one n particular.

"We believe the Akatsuki are after all of the tailed beasts inside of the Jinchuuriki." Kakashi replied.

She raised an eyebrow and turned her attention to the perverted male. "Jinchuuriki?"

He nodded his head. "Gaara had the one tails inside of him before it was extracted from him by the Akatsuki."

"The Shukaku." she whispered, looking back down to the lit fire pit in front of her. "I heard something about it a few months ago when I first heard of the Akatsuki, but I didn't pay it much mind."

"Have you heard anything else?"

Sakura shook her head, her face falling. "Unfortunately, no I haven't. Although, I do know the location of two of them."

At that moment, Sakura looked over to see blue eyes fluttering open. She smiled softly and helped him carefully sit up.

"You're awake much sooner than I thought." she spoke calmly and watched as he looked around the camp. "I've set some food aside for you."

Blue eyes set back on her and Sakura watched him, patiently waiting for him to speak. "You are the one that brought me back?"

Sakura gave him a warm smile and pointed her thumb over to the blonde. "You can thank Naruto for that, he showed me where you were."

Gaara nodded his head in understanding. "You have my gratitude. Though I am curious as to why you would do such a thing."

The kunoichi reached over and grabbed a decent size of cooked deer meat and handed it over to him. He took it slowly, still regaining his strength. Sakura waited for him to take a tentative bite out of the meat before she replied. "Since I don't know you personally, I naturally did it for Naruto, but I can tell that you have a good heart, so I don't regret my decision."

"How is it that you could do that sort of jutsu, Sakura?"

The pinkette tilted her head to the side to look at her old sensei, the light from the fire lighting up her frowning features. "Well, its kind of hard to explain, really."

"We've got time." he replied and she could see that his eye crinkled in a smile.

Nodding, Sakura positioned herself to get more comfortable to start her explanation. She could imagine that Gaara himself was the most curious about her achievement. "The jutsu I did, only one other person knows, that I am aware of. Once the body dies, the soul leaves it, but I'm sure you all know that." Seeing the other three males nod, she continued, "A person could still be brought back by a jutsu, but it would have to be within a certain time period. You see, after awhile, the body would grow too weak for the soul to be brought back and the jutsu wouldn't work at all."

"Then how were you able to bring Gaara back?" asked Naruto, giving her a quizzical look.

Turning her attention to the blonde, Sakura frowned at him. "Just let me get to that part, Naruto." When he gave her pout and a nod, she looked into the fire. "The jutsu I did was so that his soul would return but that his body would also be able to handle it. I also poured some healing chakra into his heart so he would be able to withstand it better."

The group was silent as they took the information in while Sakura stared into the fiery pit before her. Feeling everyone's eyes on her, she frowned and looked up, glancing between all of the males. "Don't look at me like that, you guys. I can't help it that I make things seem complicated."

"Not complicated." Kakashi spoke, making Sakura tilt her head to look at him. "Just. . . different."

~_~SCENE CHANGE~~_

Days of traveling toward Suna passed by and Sakura was growing restless, but not because of their slow pace to make sure that Gaara didn't strain himself, or because of the slowly changing scenery. At that point, Sakura didn't even care about the view anymore, she had more pressing matters at hand. Like the fact that because of her merged instincts, she was currently in heat. . . And she was surrounded by four of the male species.

The pink haired female groaned and ran a hand through her pink and silver locks, sweat beginning to form at her forehead as the group continued through the desert. But the heat wasn't what was bothering her, at least not because of her own sweat. Her overactive nose was going into overdrive as she unwillingly inhaled the scent of the heated males walking next to her, tempting her in, oh, so many ways.

"Sakura? Are you alright?" came Naruto's concerned voice to her right.

"Just fine." she managed to croak out. "Just a bit hot, that's all." Nobody said anything and she was thankful for that. Though she wasn't thankful when she could hear the familiar sounds of a page in a book being flipped and that familiar spicy scent was starting to seep from the male in small layers. Damnit, Kakashi. Sakura bit her lower lip to keep in any sounds. She hated it when she would get like this, which wasn't very often, but why did it have to be then? And she knew that the smell of Kakashi's arousal would be greater once they stopped for the night since he could concentrate more on the book and Sakura didn't know if she could control herself.

The kunoichi bit her lip harder to keep in a gruff noise, unintentionally drawing blood from the force. Her body shivered when a small gust of wind blew passed, which drew a certain Sand shinobi's attention from her left, much to her displeasure when he announced the obvious.

"You're bleeding."

Sakura turned her head and looked into calm, blue eyes though she could sense the concern that was behind them. Nodding dumbly, her eyes widened as he walked closer to her. The kunoichi's breath stilled when he reached out and traced her lower lip with his thumb, smearing the blood there. As soon as he removed his finger from her to place it by his side, Sakura adverted her eyes and wiped the rest of the blood with the back of her hand, her entire being trying it's hardest to keep from groaning.

That was the first time anyone had ever touched her lip, much less a male, and his hand had been so gentle and warm. The sensation left tremors running through her innocent and inexperienced skin. That along with the musky scent of male around her, one being slightly aroused, it was slowly driving her crazy. Ugh, she couldn't wait until she was traveling on her own again, away from temptation. The kunoichi was sure that if anything else happened, she was sure to explode with sexual frustration.

Near sunset, the group stopped at a small village and rented two hotel rooms. Because of the number of people in the group, Sakura didn't get the privilege of getting her own room. Unfortunately, she had to share it with the Sand ninja, everyone feeling that it was the safest bet for them two to be together in the same room. Apparently, nobody had trusted Naruto to sleep in the same room with her and Kakashi wasn't about to let Sai be in the same room with her either. Who knows how that would have turned out? So Gaara was the one who had the privilege to share a room with her, much to Sakura's disdain, considering, out of all of them, she found the Sand nin to be the most attractive, unfortunately.

The multicolored eyed kunoichi groaned into her pillow as the smell of water assaulted her nostrils. Why was she even there? Why did she have to humor the blonde and stay with them, to make him think that she was going to go back with them to Konoha when she had no intention to?

Groaning again, Sakura turned over in her bed and stared up at the white ceiling, her eyes half lidded in torture. She just _had_ to be surrounded by a group of guys all day long, all attractive in their own special way. Damn hormones. Damn animalistic instinct. Damn _men_.

The kunoichi let out another groan, this one longer and louder than the last. Sakura could hear the shower turn off in the bathroom but silently dreaded when the shinobi would step out and let the smell of shampoo and bath soap attack her.

Just as she predicted, the door slowly opened and the different scents filled the room, causing the arm that was splayed across her mouth to be bitten harshly to keep in a groan. 'This is ridiculous!' she inwardly yelled, glaring at the white surface above her. Sakura could feel her teeth sinking further into her skin and she wasn't surprised when blood started to pool around her lips and tongue. Coppery.

The kunoichi grimaced and pulled her arm away to look at the damage. It wasn't too bad, nothing a few seconds of healing couldn't fix. She did just that and watched the wound quickly close up as the Sand nin made his way over to his bed, aware of her odd behavior but not commenting on it.

Please review? :)


	4. Acting On Instinct

This chapter will contain sexual actions. You have been warned. Enjoy :)

*I've noticed that my scene changes aren't separated like they're supposed to be. I apologize for any confusion that may have caused so I went back and made it clearer that the scene changes.

Chapter 4: Acting On Instinct

It was pure torture for the kunoichi and she silently praised herself every time she looked at him that she didn't just rape him while he slept. Her eyes could see clearly throughout the dark room and she watched as his chest raised and fell with each breath he took. A chest that just happened to be bare, left for the world to see as nothing covered it, taunted the kunoichi. He was toned, beautiful, and teasing. Toned because of his years as a shinobi, beautiful because he had a sense of frailty and vulnerability about him, and finally, teasing because she couldn't have him for many reasons. How the _hell_ could a guy that was just brought back from the dead manage to be so gorgeous?

Sakura's eyes traveled shamelessly down his body and stopped to view his waistline where the sheets of the bed laid lazily. She could see every delicious curve that his body allowed her to view but she was using up every ounce of self control not to tear the covers off of him, straddle that tempting waist, and-.

Suppressing a groan, Sakura silently stood up and made her way over to the small window on the other side of her bed a few yards away. Within seconds, she was out of it, making sure to silently shut it behind her so that the male wouldn't wake up, and running down the streets. It was hard to breathe and sweat trickled down her face as she continued to run aimlessly.

After a few moments, she stopped in the middle of an abandoned street, gasping for fresh air, yet it did nothing to squish the desire burning through her body. She had never felt something so powerful and demanding and it frightened her a bit. It was something she couldn't control and she wanted to get rid of it, but there was only one way she knew how to do that and she wasn't about to go about asking the males for any favors. If she did, they would most likely expect it again, or even a relationship, at least that would be what Naruto would want. Sakura couldn't do that. She couldn't waste her time on such things such as a relationship. She was running on pure instinct throughout this whole thing and she was trying her best to resist it until it passed, like all the other times.

Sakura also couldn't tell them the real reason why she was all of a sudden extremely horny. She didn't want them to know about her other form and why everything was the way it was with her. If they knew then that would make it easier to find her if she decided to hide as a wolf for a quick getaway.

"Sakura?"

Said kunoichi looked up into onyx eyes staring at her questioningly. "Sasuke?" What was he doing in the village? No matter, it was his choice on where he wanted to go or not.

His eyes narrowed at her for a moment as if contemplating. "What are you doing?"

His voice was low and deep, making Sakura shiver slightly. Her eyes bore into his and she decided that if she wanted to get rid of the blasted feeling as soon as possible, he would be the best person for it.

"Sasuke, can I ask you a favor?"

He furrowed his eyebrows as he stared at her, signaling that he was listening.

After inhaling through her nose, Sakura let out a shaky breath before she spoke. "I need you to fuck me."

Sakura could tell that he was shocked by the way his eyes widened and his jaw went slightly slack. She wasn't sure if it was because of her request or the way she worded it. But that's what she needed; to let out all that frustration and pent up arousal, not to be made love to or cared for.

She watched as he slowly got over his shock and he watched her, his eyes narrowed and his lips frowning. "Sakura."

"Please, Sasuke." she mumbled, a look of defeat slowly etching over her features.

"Why?" he asked suspiciously.

"Does it matter?" she questioned, arching an eyebrow at him.

His face returned back to it's usual stoic coldness. "Actually, yes it does."

"You cannot be serious." she grumbled, annoyance starting to take over her as she began gently tapping her foot impatiently.

"Hn. I can't do it if you expect anything afterward."

Sakura immediately beamed up at him, making him look at her skeptically, and she could tell that her reaction confused him slightly. "I won't." she smiled. "Its just this once, I promise."

He nodded his head, "Hn." Then he reached for hand, which she gratefully allowed, and began to drag her down the road.

The kunoichi impatiently walked behind him as he led her to an inn that was on the opposite side of the village from the inn she was supposed to be at. The innkeeper wasn't there but he continued to pull her along, leading her down hallways until they stopped in front of a door. He unlocked and opened it before gesturing for her to step inside. She did so without hesitation and walked right passed him and into the dark, secluded room.

Her eyes roamed around the space and she heard the door being shut and locked behind her. The pinkette let out a sigh as the male behind her spoke up, curiosity clear in his voice.

"Why do you want to do this suddenly?"

She dismissed his question for a moment as she began to take off her clothes, starting with her belt. Her scythe and long sword were still in the room with the sleeping Sand nin so she didn't have to worry about those.

"I'll explain later if you still want to know." she replied calmly, moving to take off her shirt, then the fishnets that were under it. Soon, her chest was left bare, her back facing him, and as she began to work on her shorts, her boots already off, a hand grabbed her wrist.

Sakura looked up to see dark eyes staring at her, his face calm. Her mouth parted as she gazed up at him, finally seeing that his orbs were clouded with something she wasn't able to identify. That fire in her stomach that hadn't let up one bit suddenly got even stronger and it made her bite her lower lip harshly.

The kunoichi didn't stop him when she felt the hand that was on her wrist run up her arm and back down to lay on her waist. She stared into his eyes unwaveringly as he placed his other hand on her waist and started to slide her shorts down her legs, then her fishnets. Sakura stepped out of them, leaving herself completely bare in front of the younger Uchiha, yet she couldn't bring herself to feel self-conscious, even in front of him.

His touch was wandering, curious even, as he ran his hands up her arms slowly. The action seemed odd to Sakura, it was almost as if. . . Yes, she could smell it starting to form under his skin, but she wouldn't bring it up just yet. Instead, she focused on the way his hard, yet smooth, hand rake up her waist and the side of her rib cage, eliciting a shiver from her.

His slow actions were wonderful feeling, but she was getting impatient really quickly. In less than a second, Sakura managed to twist them around so that they landed on the bed, her straddling his waist. He seemed shocked at first but he quickly got over it, his expression turning into it's usual mask.

"I think now would be appropriate to ask what I'm curious about." she smiled down at him. She wasn't surprised when he arched an eyebrow at her. She silently braced herself, prepared for any possible outcome when she asked her question. "You're a virgin, aren't you?"

Sakura had prepared herself for him to start shouting. She had prepared herself to be kicked out. She had even prepared herself for him to declare that he wasn't and take control over the situation. But she hadn't prepared herself for what came next; something she knew nobody else had ever seen before on the usually stoic man's face.

Her eyes skimmed over his cheeks, a small blush coating them, as he looked away from her and seemed to glare at a spot on the floor. "H-how-"

"I can see it in your eyes." she stated before he could finish his question. He turned to look at her, his eyes narrowing in a manner saying that he didn't believe her. She closed her eyes and gave him a pleasing smile, purposefully refraining from telling him that she could smell his nervousness of the current situation. "Don't worry." She was, after all, a virgin too and she understood where he was coming from. They were both too busy with more important issues than to worry about fulfilling their sexual desires.

"Sakura." he growled.

"Hm?" she hummed while opening her eyes to look at him, her face calm.

"Don't you dare tell anyone." he threatened dangerously that sent another shiver to run up and down the female's spine.

Sakura couldn't fight back the smirk as she replied, "Oh I wouldn't dream of it, _Sasuke_." she purred. Leaning down, she gently licked up the side of his neck, deciding to let instinct cover up for her lack of experience. Satisfied that his body stiffened under her, she whispered in his ear, "Besides, after tonight, it won't be true."

She smirked and began to drag her tongue over his earlobe. Taking it into her mouth, she gently nibbled on it and couldn't suppress a soft moan when he grasped her hips. It was such a simple touch yet she had a huge reaction. Her skin burned under his palms and she couldn't stop the tremors that raked through her.

Feeling confident and daring, she grinded her hips against his and smirked when she saw him bite his lip in response, doing his best to keep in a groan. Doing it again, simply to test him, her smirk turned into a small frown when he didn't react any differently. Oh no, she couldn't have any of that. The kunoichi wasn't about to have sex with someone that refused to make a noise. She would just have to make sure that he did and if she had her way, he would be screaming her name before the night ended.

As much as she was impatient to drench the fire in her stomach and to satisfy the need for release, she wanted to see how far the male would let her go. Sakura positioned herself so that she was leaning above him, her face mere inches away from his, and her hand resting on his chest. Using her elbows for balance, she reached up with her other hand and stroked his cheek. She was sure her own eyes rivaled his own, as they were coated with a quiet lust, though she would make sure they were storming with that in particular later on.

Slowly, carefully, as if he would pull away at any moment, she tilted his head to the side and brought her lips down, pressing them lightly against his to see if he would resist. She was relieved when he responded and pressed against her harder than what she had done. Sakura groaned and pushed back, her tongue slipping through her lips and slyly passed his to wrestle for dominance. The hands that were on her waist snaked down to grip her hips roughly, forcing her to grind against him. In return, the hand that was on his chest raked up and into his dark locks, gripping at the scalp harshly as she bit his lower lip.

Sakura smirked against the kiss when he elicited a small groan. Finally. But now that she heard it, she wanted more. A whole lot more and she was going to get it. She broke apart from him, smiling when he let out a gruff noise of disapproval.

Somehow, without his knowing until it was too late, his clothes were no longer on his body. He was as nude as the girl straddling him. Looking back up at her, he narrowed his eyes at the smirk playing across her features.

"Sakura." he growled.

Said female continued to smirk and tilted her head to the side innocently. "Now, now, don't be like that. I'm the one who's gonna do the growling and controlling." Her smirk turned into a smile as he glared at her, clearly disapproving with her statement. Although it wasn't true, she had no intention to give up dominance just yet. She was expecting him to retort to her statement, but before he could, she reached down and raked her fingers along the underside of his member, making him gasp.

The hands that were on her hips tightened fiercely and the kunoichi had to bite back a moan when he bucked his hips up against hers. The action brought out her senses again and she could very clearly smell the spicy, musky scent of his arousal that was pressed up against her abdomen. Her eyes lowered from his intense gaze to look down at his proud organ and she was surprised by the sheer size of it.

The room was silent for a few moments, neither moving nor speaking and she could feel the uneasiness he felt, which was an odd feeling considering he was usually cold and arrogant. Curiosity was eating at the female as she stared down at it, but after a moment, she smiled, deciding on her next move.

"What?" Sasuke asked.

Lowering herself so that she sat on his shins, she glanced up to meet onyx eyes staring at her. Without hesitation, she answered with her smile still in place. "I'm just wondering how it will fit."

Seeing that a small smirk formed on his lips, she could feel pride stab at him before she turned her attention back to his erection, tilting her head to the side and giving it a tentative lick. Her movement stilled when he took a sharp intake of breathe but she knew it wasn't because she hurt him. Looking back up into his half lidded eyes, she repeated her action, this time with him biting his lip and closing his eyes. This, somehow, irritated her.

"Open your eyes and watch." she ordered calmly.

He did as he was told and opened his eyes and watched her for her next move silently. It amazed Sakura on how such a usually cold and detached person could act like an innocent teenager in front of her. She somehow doubted that he would do it in any other case. For him to show such vulnerability, it was exciting and surreal.

Slowly, Sakura stuck the tip of her tongue out and slid it across the head of his erection, reveling in the way his body jerked and he gasped. She could hear his heartbeat speed up slightly and his responses egged her on. Sticking more of her tongue out, she traced it around the head before taking it fully in her mouth and sucking on it. She heard a low groan above her and she looked up to see him watching her, his eyes even darker with lust and his lips slightly parted. Just what she was looking for.

Skimming her tongue over a slit that she found on the head, her eyes adverted from the gasping male to see his hands gripping the bed sheets, making her smirk. Swirling her tongue over the slit again, she lowered her mouth even further on the male and sucked even harder, a louder groan escaping his lips in response. Curiosity was what drove her through the experience at first, simply wanting to know what he tasted like mostly, but as she watched his reactions, she wanted to do it even more, making her take even more of him in her mouth. Soon, the head hit the back of her throat, her gag reflexes wanting to take over at first but she soon relaxed.

Looking up, she met his gaze and saw that he was biting his lip to keep in his sounds. The sight of his breaths starting to come out ragged, the sound of his rapidly beating heart, the taste and scent of his arousal, it was all turning her on even more. Moaning again, she felt the vibrations run through him and the shiver that shot through his spine. She never broke eye contact as she started moving her tongue and mouth, sucking his cock as she lifted and lowered her head onto him.

She could feel her own arousal running down her thighs, his growing panting and his shaking body not helping in the slightest. Sakura didn't stop him as his hands came up and gripped the pink and silver locks at her scalp, his hips slowly moving at their own rhythm to her movements. His thrusts soon gained speed and the kunoichi soon found him not holding back as he pumped his erection into her mouth, all the while, his fists gripping harshly at her roots.

"S-Sakura." he grunted out hoarsely before biting his lower lip harshly and clenching his eyes shut. Her eyes narrowed at the action and she elicited a growl, the action sending pleasurable vibrations that raked it's way throughout his body.

She watched as his body went through small spasms, including the length that was pounding it's way into her throat. She arched an eyebrow in interest as the grip in her hair increased it's hold, if that was even possible and his body stilled. Not a moment later, Sakura could feel a hot, sticky liquid shooting into her mouth and down her throat. Shocked, she pulled back and watched as his erection continued to leak out the substance. The kunoichi quickly gained back her confidence and licked at the tip and wasn't exactly amused when some of the warm substance shot out and landed on her face.

Frowning, Sakura sat back and could feel the liquid dripping down her cheeks, nose, and chin. Her eyes glanced up to see the young Uchiha smirking at her and she vaguely remembered when he used to wear that expression when they were twelve. So long ago.

"You look good like that."

Sakura's frown deepened a bit more and her eyebrows furrowed. "Whatever." she mumbled and began to get rid of the substance by wiping it away with the back of her hand. When she was satisfied, she crawled back up his body and straddled his waist, her frown turning into a smirk as she lowered her head down toward his. Not bothering to be gentle, she pressed her lips to his in a fierce kiss in a battle of dominance. She found that he wasn't backing down as she continued to press harder, possibly bruising both of their lips in the process.

Sasuke's tongue slipped into her mouth and she quickly latched onto it, sucking on the appendage and causing him to let out a low groan. All too soon for the male, Sakura pulled away and ignored his narrowed eyes and frown. She instead, focused her attention on his neck and began to lick up a small, teasing trail from the bottom to the top and began to gently suck on his earlobe.

While he was distracted with that, Sakura could feel his newly awakened erection pressing into her backside and she raised her hips. He didn't even have time to ask if she was sure about doing it before she aligned his shaft to her entrance and being to press down. Both groaned at the feeling even before she pushed down all the way onto him.

It was an odd sensation but a welcomed one. Years of intense training had destroyed that fragile membrane but it still hurt somewhat to be stretched that much. Her arousal had made it easy access, even if nothing remotely that big had been inside of her before. The pleasure had immediately rode at any pain that she should have felt.

"Fuck." Sasuke cursed while tossing his back against his pillow, his knuckles turning white from the force at which he gripped her hips. Sakura didn't so much as wait for her sake, more like for the male below her. His breath was quick, heavy, and short, almost coming out in pants. His face was flushed and had gathered a layer of sweat. She could also feel his body slightly trembling to accommodate to the new sensation. It sure was a sight to behold and she was enjoying every second of it.

A few moments of heavy breathing passed until his clenched eyes opened and he looked at her expectantly. Seeing that as her cue, she raised her hips and lowered them, rocking up against him, both letting out breathy moans at the feeling. Sakura could already tell that this was going to be one of her favorite positions and she was already eager to try more of them with the male before she left. Although, what she was looking forward to the most was when the Uchiha would step it up and show her that dominant and controlling personality of his.

Her hips continued to rock and sway as he held her hips roughly and began to thrust up into her, picking her up and slamming her back down onto his length to help with the force of the impact. Sakura tossed her head back and let out a quiet moan. He was starting to get rough with her, she could tell, but she wanted more. She wanted that feeling of being completely dominated and pushed to her limits, to make her build up such a strong desire to be filled until she finally burst. And if she wanted that, she would have to push him to get to that point.

Leaning forward, she pressed kisses over his jaw, neck, shoulders, and chest. Her tongue slid up the side of his neck until stopping at his ear. Once there, she sultry whispered, "Come on, _Sasuke_." she purred, making him groan. "Fuck me _harder_."

Just like she wanted, they were flipped around and Sakura found herself on her hands and knees, but something was missing. Looking over her shoulder, she caught sight of Sasuke biting his lip before he ran his index finger down her back. Sakura couldn't shake off the tremor that ran through her at the action. The kunoichi let out a sigh when his warm hand stopped to cup one of her ass cheeks. His other hand was grasping his erection as he slowly lined it up with her entrance.

Sakura groaned and tossed her head back into the pillow in frustration when he didn't penetrate, instead just swirled his tip around her entrance teasingly. Biting back an impatient retort, she begrudgingly waited for him to enter her. Unfortunately for her, the Uchiha had other plans.

"Come on, _Sakura_." he teased.

"What?" she asked, her eyes narrowing at the bed's headboard that would surely hate them by the time they were finished. She felt him press his chest against her as he leaned down and pressed his lips against her ear.

"Beg for it."

Letting out a small growl, Sakura tried to thrust back onto his erection but the hand on her ass kept her firmly in place as it snaked around to grip her hip firmly. She wouldn't be succumbed to begging. No way.

"Make me." she snipped back but then let out a small moan as his member slowly, barely, entered her but then pulled back out. Sakura laid her head on her arms and arched her back, sticking her ass straight in the air and not particularly caring about modesty. When he did it again, she did her best to press back, but only to have him pull back and his grip on her hip to tighten. "Damnit." she muttered, her frustration growing.

A low chuckle could be heard behind her and she was intent on glaring a hole through the wood in front of her. Sakura bit her lip to keep in any sounds as he continued to slowly torture her. If he didn't do anything soon, she was sure that she would go crazy. When his erection slid almost half way into her and quickly pulled out, she couldn't keep it in.

"Sasuke." she moaned lowly, but he didn't change tactics as he continued to barely push into her and then pull out. She wouldn't back down, she refused to. If anything, she would make it so that he gave in. But how?

"You sure are a stubborn thing." a deep, hoarse voice growled into her ear. "Even more so than before."

The pink haired kunoichi smirked against her arms and turned her gaze to look at the male beside her. His brows were furrowed and his lower lip was bruised and slightly bleeding from where he was biting it. Lifting up her head, she raked her tongue across his lip before pulling it into her mouth and sucking on it.

Sasuke let out a guttural moan and kissed her harshly before his resolve seemed to snap as he plunged his entire cock into her awaiting warmth. Sakura let out a surprised cry but didn't back down as she kissed him back with just as much force. She let his tongue travel into her mouth and wrestled with hers for dominance, which she quickly lost without complaint.

Sakura let out a grunt when his hips smacked into her ass with a sharp thrust and he pulled back, breaking the kiss. Resting her head back into the pillow, she tried to keep the noises minimal, but soon found that she couldn't keep in a loud groan as he pulled at her hair. His grip tightened as his thrusts grew faster and harder, and soon, he was holding a good amount of her pink locks in his fist as he clutched it at her scalp.

She could vaguely hear his heartbeat over her own but she could clearly hear his pants and grunts throughout the room, combining with her moans and gasps. Fingers gripped into her hipbone, surely going to leave bruises and marks but she wasn't worried about it. Sakura could hear a barely suppressed groan next to her ear and she could feel his body starting to shudder on top of her.

"Sakura." he groaned out as he continued to pump into her, making her moan in response. His pace was frantic, without any specific rhythm. His breathing was ragged and short in her ear and his grip was hard and tight. Her body shivered when she felt a warm tongue snake it's way up the side her neck. The female couldn't even think about holding in a moan at that point anymore. Everything he was doing, it was so primal, it was so animalistic, and she fucking loved it.

He was hitting spots she never knew could have existed that created so much pleasure and she was glad that she had come to him and not someone else. She was sure that no one else could make her want to explode in pleasure like he made her want to. Her lower abdomen was tightening quickly with a burning flame and she was starting to tremble. She was prepared to fight it off but something told her not to so she sank deeper into the feeling, hoping that her instincts were right.

Gripping the sheets in her fists and growling into the fabric, she felt her body tensing up involuntarily and began to twitch. The feeling continued to build up but it wasn't quite there yet, she just needed that little extra push. She just knew that was all it would take until something big happened. Turning her head to the side, she saw lust filled eyes watching her intently.

"_Sasuke_." she moaned.

And that was it. She watched as he clenched his eyes shut and let out a loud groan of her name, pounding into her without mercy. "Sakura." A moment later, his length spasmed inside of her, twitching uncontrollably as a familiar, hot liquid shot into her. The kunoichi bit into her arm, hard enough to draw blood, and let out a loud, muffled groan. She shut her multicolored eyes tightly and allowed herself to ride through the feeling. She saw stars behind her eyelids and her body shook erotically as she rode out her very first orgasm.

Both breathing heavily, Sakura's body relaxed onto the bed as Sasuke's form fell forward, his growing soft member still inside of her but neither caring nor willing to move to change that fact. Both were perfectly content at that moment as their breathing slowly evened out.

Sakura seemed to be the first one to regain her thoughts but sadly, the only word that came to mind was a weak; "Damn."

Sasuke chuckled next to her and was suddenly aware of most of his weight being on top of the small kunoichi. Although, she didn't show any signs of distress over the matter so he made no move to get off of her warm and sweat soaked body.

"Ugh, I could just go to sleep right here." she grumbled before stretching out, making the Uchiha finally roll off of her and his length to slip out of her. Silently flinching at the movement, she watched as Sasuke settled himself next to her, yet without touching her. Softly smiling as he closed his eyes, she reached a glowing hand down and healed her hips and the area all around them. The soreness slowly disappeared into nothing, making her smile even brighter.

"What are you doing here anyway?" she asked curiously, finally remembering how odd it was that he was in the village.

"It doesn't matter." he replied, voice quiet and calm. "How could you tell that I was a virgin?"

Sakura let out a small laugh and when Sasuke opened his eyes to look at her, she sighed, deciding to give him an honest answer. "I could tell you were nervous at first."

"How?" he questioned, arching an eyebrow.

"It doesn't matter." she smirked.

"Hn." he replied before closing his eyes again. Not being able to contain herself, Sakura reached a hand up and ran her fingers through his bangs. Glad that he didn't seem to care about her action, she continued to mess with his hair. It was surprisingly soft and silky, yet strong. She kept running her fingers through his dark locks and the room was completely silent other than their steady breathing.

It wasn't too long afterward that Sakura found out that he had fallen asleep. His heartbeat and breathing was even and his mouth was slightly parted as he inhaled and exhaled quietly. Her hand rested gently on his cheek and she couldn't help but notice how content he looked. His eyes were resting, closed leisurely, without the hate and anger that usually resided there. His lips weren't pressed into a thin line or scowling and his body wasn't as tense as it normally was.

Sighing, Sakura retracted her hand and slowly, careful not to wake the male up, she got off of the bed and walked to the other side of the room to where the bathroom should be, her intent on taking a shower before she headed off to the other inn for the night.

~_~SCENE CHANGE~~_

He woke up with a start, suddenly sensing that something was wrong, his Sharingan twirling as he looked throughout the room. Nothing. Nothing was out of place. Both doors were shut and the window was tightly closed, letting the first sign of sunlight shine through the room. Wondering what could have caused his senses to act up, he stood up and walked over to a small table where he noticed that a note had been placed there. Picking up the piece of paper, he looked at the neatly scribbled words on it before clenching the note in his fist.

_'Thank you.'_

~_~SCENE CHANGE~~_

Waking up and stretching out her limbs, she mewled with a small smile in place. She had never felt so sated in her entire life. All her bent up frustration, all of those days where she had to endure endless arousal, all of that gone. All thanks to that one person she never thought would've given in to her request. The best part was that she didn't have to worry about him expecting more from her. She didn't have to worry about him chasing after her or wanting a relationship. They both had things that they needed to do.

"I see you're finally awake."

Sakura turned her head to look at a stoic Sand ninja watching her from his bed. He sat cross legged and she vaguely wondered if he had been watching her for awhile.

"Good morning, Gaara." she smiled.

He nodded his head in return and stood up to head to the bathroom. She silently watched as he left and fortunate enough, his musky, definitely male, scent didn't bother her. Sighing, she blinked slowly before looking back up at the ceiling. She was planning on leaving right before they got into Suna, possibly sooner. The more she thought about it, the more she disliked the idea of going there. Once they returned, Gaara's family would be ecstatic to see him alive again and then in the long run, they would no doubt crush her with gratitude. Then if he resumed his title of Kazekage, who knows what the people would do. . . She wasn't looking forward to it one bit.

She had to leave while they weren't expecting it, before things got too out of hand for her. She could handle overjoyed siblings, but she couldn't handle an entire village that she had no idea how they would react.

Hearing the sound of water being turned on, Sakura realized that that moment was as good as any. Slipping out of bed, she sighed and made her way over to the weapons leaning up against the wall nearest her. After slipping them into place, she walked over to the window and slid it open. She braced herself on the windowsill and silently jumped out of it. She flipped through the air and landed gracefully on her feet before starting out into a full dash throughout the village.

Suddenly, a flash of white and purple appeared inches before her and before she had time to stop, she slammed into the figure, both letting out grunts at the impact as they fell harshly against the ground.

"The hell?" the kunoichi groaned as she sat up, rubbing her head, already feeling the beginnings of a headache. Looking down, she arched an eyebrow at the male she had ended up unintentionally straddling. Her jade and cerulean orbs met mischievous purple and he looked quite amused at their situation. The kunoichi had found it funny at first, until she could sense a spark of anger crack through the air. Silently gulping from the young Uchiha's growing wrath, she stood up from her position on the water nin's waist and patted the dirt off of her shorts. Though she wasn't exactly sure why he had been angry in the first place.

Right when she was about to help Suigetsu up, a loud, shrill, male voice echoed throughout the entire village, screaming her name. Whipping her head around to look at the direction she had just come from, her eyebrows furrowed in contemplation.

"Damnit." she hissed, right as a head of blonde hair came into view over the horizon. Biting her lip, she performed the jutsu and a shadow clone appeared right next to her. Then, silently, her body started to transform and she began to run off in a full sprint, leaving a silent and confused group behind her, along with her frowning clone as the blonde ninja caught up to them.

Sakura continued to run, even as she felt four chakra signatures not too far behind her. Were they chasing her? The thought made her want to smirk. If they were then they would be in for a hell of a run. 'Lets see how long they can keep up.' she thought to herself, amused.

I would greatly appreciate feedback on this chapter. I feel like I could have done better on it and anything would help for future reference. Thanks :) Also, I have put up a new story called Back In Time and I would like it if you guys would check that story out as well. Please and thanks. :)


	5. Another Reunion

Thank you guys for the lovely reviews :) Unfortunately, I don't want to give away any spoilers but I hope the next few chapters will answer all of the questions you had for me so far and that the story is to your liking :) I'll also try to go into more detail with Sasuke's p.o.v but I don't really want to take too much attention away from Sakura; got to keep things mysterious a bit for the time being. Please keep up the reviews :)

*I've noticed that my scene changes aren't separated like they're supposed to be. I apologize for any confusion that may have caused so I went back and made it clearer that the scene changes.

Chapter 5: Another Reunion

The sun had set not too long ago and Sakura was slightly surprised when they were still chasing her, but then they stopped suddenly. Most likely to make camp. But then, right when the others had stopped, one in particular had continued on. Transforming back, she smirked when she realized who it was, pressed on even faster than before, and created a few shadow clones, all three of them going into different directions.

After about half a hour, Sakura skidded to a stop and searched her surroundings. Sand. There was sand everywhere and there was nobody in sight, yet she could feel him near her. He was doing a good enough job concealing his chakra and she could hardly scent him out with the sand surrounding him, but she knew he was there.

"You can come out. I know you're there." she spoke, her voice firm and confident. For a few moments, there was no movement except for the wind blowing through the desert. Then, the ground shifted behind her, making her whip her head around to see the male emerging from the ground. The kunoichi didn't even try to suppress a laugh as she watched sand fall from his head and shoulders.

"What do you want, Sasuke?" she asked, placing her hand on her hip.

He stared at her for long, silent moments. The moon was high and full, illuminating her features and making her silver strands stand out all the more. They both stared at each other, cerulean and jade on onyx, both unwavering and expressionless. Sakura wasn't surprised that he had his cold, stoic mask back on, even though she had seen so much of him the night before. But then again, she guessed that was to be expected with him.

"Why did you leave?" he suddenly asked.

Sakura quirked an eyebrow at him and frowned. "Leave? You'll have to be more specific."

The Uchiha's eyes narrowed at her and she could feel the irritation bubble inside of him. "You know what I meant. Why did you leave?"

The kunoichi tilted her head to the side in thought as they continued to stare at each other. What was he talking about? Did he mean why she left Naruto's group? Why she left Konoha? Or did he mean something else?

Her head straightened after a moment and her orbs widened in realization. "Ohh, you mean why did I leave this morning?"

His eyes narrowed at her even more and she could see that he clenched his fists, making her instantly put up her guard mentally, prepared for any sort of attack. When he didn't speak up, she decided to talk, "I thought we already clarified that neither of us should expect anything afterward." Tilting her head to the side, she continued, "So why would I stay?"

She could sense that his anger seemed to dissipate with her response but it didn't quite fully leave, much to her annoyance. She was tired of dealing with people that had trouble with their anger and that she couldn't read. It got on her nerves, mainly thanks to the old woman, Sanuko. Though she guessed that was a bit hypocritical, but whatever.

"You mentioned before that the Akatsuki are after you." his cold voice came.

Sakura straightened her stance and gave him a skeptical look. It wasn't a question, it was a statement, and she could already tell that she wasn't going to like where this conversation was headed. "Go on."

"You will stay with me so that I can find Itachi."

The pinkette narrowed her eyes at the male and clenched her teeth. She understood what he wanted. With her around, he was more likely to find his brother, he would be using her. "No."

Instantly, Sasuke's frustration raised at her response and his fists tightened. "Sakura." he growled warningly.

Her eyes raked over his body cautiously for any sign of threat. Her voice was firm and determined as she looked back into his eyes and replied, "I do not take orders from anybody, least of all, you."

His glare seemed to intensify and her hand twitched, eager to reach for her scythe to protect herself at any given moment. She wasn't sure how the beginning argument would turn out but she soon found herself not wanting to stay any longer than necessary.

Her eyes narrowed when he took a step toward her, making her take a step back in response. Her instincts were shouting at her to run and when he took another step forward, her hands moved of their own accord while she did a wind jutsu. Finishing the hand signs in less than a second, she flicked her wrist out and didn't stay to watch the damage she caused. She knew she could have possibly started the beginnings of a huge sandstorm but she had to get out of there. For the first time in years, she had felt fear and anticipation. She had no idea what he was going to do, she couldn't read him and it unnerved her to no end. It was like standing in front of a huge, angry statue that was swaying out of control. You could either stay and see if it stops swaying or if it lands on top of you, or you could run away from it to make sure it didn't break any of your bones. She had chose the latter.

Sakura continued to run at full speed and when she felt that he wasn't following her, she slowed down her pace a bit. After awhile, her shadow clones disappeared and reported back to her, except for the one that she had left with Naruto. The kunoichi wondered if any of them knew if it was a shadow clone or not, either way, there was nothing they could do about it.

She continued to run for days, not stopping since her encounter with the Uchiha. She didn't exactly trust sleeping in the desert, she preferred the trees and bushes for cover and it was only until she got a good ways into a forest that she decided to stop for rest.

Sakura sighed after removing her long sword and got into a comfortable position on a tree branch, leaning her back against the tree itself. Concealing her chakra and scent, she held her sword tightly in her lap and closed her eyes.

~~_SCENE CHANGE~~_

Jade and cerulean orbs slowly opened to the sound of noise from below. It was dark, the last signs of light already passed, probably hours ago. Tilting her head, she gazed down into an area that was in the making of a small camp. A fire was already going and she could see a familiar red head attending to something that looked like tea. Sakura watched curiously as the red head fixed the liquid into four, barely used cups. Then, she reached into a small bag next to her and pulled out two small packets with a fine looking powder inside them.

Arcing an eyebrow in curiosity, the pinkette continued to watch as the female below her poured the powdery substance into two steaming cups of fresh tea. The smell hit Sakura's nose and she instantly knew what it was. Sleeping powder. The pink haired female contemplated. Why would she want to put her teammates to sleep? Wouldn't that leave them at a greater disadvantage if an enemy showed up? Foolish woman. But then, a reason dawned on Sakura. Wasn't that female attracted to Sasuke? Yes, Sakura remembered smelling the disgusting scent of desperation and slight arousal roll off of the woman when the dark haired male was nearby. Along with the way she constantly threw herself at him and begged for attention.

'Oh wow.' Sakura chided, frowning. 'I highly doubt that her teammates would fall for that.'

Movement caught her ears and she looked to see said teammates walking into the campsite, none of them having noticed her presence yet. The water nin had fish in his hands, just enough for the four of them. He had a smirk on his lips as he addressed the female before them, saying something about how odd it was for them to receive 'nice' treatment and that the tea might be poisoned. The other male had a small, gentle smile on his lips as they continued to walk closer.

Sakura could feel the last member approaching before he even showed up in the campsite. The stoic male sat down against the trunk of the tree under her and settled on ignoring everyone. The kunoichi dismissed his normal behavior and looked back over to the other two males and watched as they actually drank the tea that was offered to them by Karin.

The pinkette's mouth fell open and her eyes widened. 'I can't believe they actually drank that. What idiots.' Even Sakura could tell when someone had slipped something in her drink when she was thirteen. It was something else the old woman had taught her to avoid and notice since her senses weren't as developed then. But Sakura figured that the two were able to at least identify something as trivial as a sleeping potion.

'Apparently not.' she thought, slightly amused.

It would take awhile for the powder to kick in, giving the group enough time for them to eat and for Sakura to look up at the stars through the top of the trees. She couldn't see much from the leaves but it was nice enough. She wondered what it would be like to look up at the stars like they used to, all three of them, all together again. But Sakura knew that that was just wishful thinking. Sasuke had left. She had left. And Naruto had stayed. They were all on different paths, yet it seemed they kept crossing ways. It was just making it harder for her. She had been with the blonde for only a few days and he was already messing with her plans to stay away. She didn't want to remember the old days, when they were a team, when they looked out for each other.

After awhile, a loud yawn could be heard and Sakura looked down to see Suigetsu yawning widely into his palm, the sight bringing a knowing, pitiful smile from the pink haired kunoichi's lips. She watched as he settled himself on the ground and Juugo leaned up against the trunk of a tree. Within no time, they were both asleep.

Silently, Sakura stood up and adjusted her long sword back on her back, then she transformed into her furry animal. Before Karin even had time to move, Sakura jumped down out of the branches and landed by Suigetsu's side, cuddling up next to him to keep him warm. It appeared only the male of the awake duo noticed her presence while the female walked up to him, swaying her hips amateurishly.

Sakura positioned herself behind the male as he slept on his side and wrapped her tail around his knees and her head on his shoulder. The way they were laying had her looking straight into onyx eyes, and as always, they were stoic. However, she could feel something beginning to churn underneath the surface as he stared at her. The kunoichi's gaze shifted to the red haired female as she positioned herself next to the stoic male, although she got no response from him. The pinkette continued to watch, rather amused by the ignorant female.

"It looks like we're the only ones awake now, Sasuke-kun." the female whispered, trying to sound seductive but obviously failing considering who her target was. "What do you think we should do?"

Sakura had to keep down a snort at her efforts when the male ignored her, his eyes never leaving jade and cerulean. After another moment, the pinkette closed her eyes and snuggled closer to the silver haired male.

"Karin." Sasuke growled, looking away from the silver wolf on the other side of the camp and at the female beside him.

"Yes, Sasuke-kun?" she asked, smiling.

"Leave me alone." he ordered harshly. The female seemed taken aback by this but then a pout crossed her lips as she stood up and walked away, making herself comfortable on the grass. Sasuke ignored her and turned his attention back to Sakura, his eyes narrowing as he watched her lay comfortably on the water ninja. He wasn't sure when she found their camp but he didn't care about that. It was somehow irritating him that she could just walk up to them and ignore him, more or less.

Sakura could tell that the Uchiha was irritated, though she wasn't sure by what and it was starting to get on her nerves. Whatever, she would approach that problem at a later time. She still wanted to get some sleep in before she left. But apparently that was too much to ask for, considering she could feel three familiar chakra signatures making their way to them. Lifting up her head, she let out a growl of frustration as she looked behind them. They were getting closer, she could practically already smell the ink that hugged one of the members. Accepting the fact that she probably wouldn't get much sleep that night, she rested her head back on the water nin's shoulder and looked up at the Uchiha looking off into the distance where her attention had once been. After a few moments, the expected group made it to the campsite, with the blonde bringing up the lead.

"Hey! If it isn't Teme!" the blonde shouted enthusiastically, his loud voice making Sakura cringe.

"Shut up." the Uchiha hissed, his eyes narrowing at the blonde as he made himself comfortable on the ground near the fire.

Sakura watched as the other two males stood to the side, their guard up.

"Whatever, Teme." Naruto waved his comment off. "I'm wondering if you've seen Sakura." he said, his voice and expression suddenly serious as he looked at Sasuke.

The dark haired male narrowed his eyes at the blonde. "Why should I tell you?"

"Because that would be the least you could do after what you did." Naruto replied, tilting his head to the side, his eyes narrowing at the dark haired male. Sakura's head shot up at his comment, curiosity scorching through her. Did Naruto mean Sasuke's betrayal? But something was telling her there was more to it than that. The kunoichi turned her attention back to the Uchiha and watched as his eyes lit up with irritation.

Suddenly, a spark of caution shot through her with the growing tension in the air, causing her to bark out in warning while staring at the male. Said male turned his onyx gaze to her blankly, though she could see the irritation and curiosity in them. Her eyes didn't leave his as everyone turned to look at her, surprise mainly raining from the blonde.

She wasn't sure what brought her to do such a thing, but when Kakashi stepped closer to examine her better, she let out a low, threatening growl as she turned to look at him. The kunoichi figured it was instinct, to protect the silver haired male from a possible threat, even though it was her old sensei. She had no idea of his intentions and when he continued to walk closer to them, she lifted her head up and let out another growl, this time louder and more threatening as she showed off her white, sharp rows of teeth.

Kakashi stopped and regarded her carefully for a few moments before he spoke reassuringly, "I don't have any intentions of hurting him, Sakura. I merely want to observe."

Sakura wasn't surprised that the notorious copy ninja had found out who she was and though she was still skeptical, she accepted his statement for what it was. Laying her head back down on Suigetsu's shoulder, she watched the male carefully as he began to step toward her again until sitting lazily down beside her.

"What are you talking about, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto questioned rather loudly and standing up to point at her with an incredulous look. "That's not Sakura! Why would _Sakura_ be snuggling up next to a member of _his_ team?" he asked, pointing at Sasuke at the last part, making the Uchiha narrow his eyes at the male.

"Why don't you ask her that?" spoke the copy ninja casually, picking up the female's tail to observe it closely. Sakura stared at his actions curiously, wondering why he would be interested in her tail of all things.

"Alright!" Naruto snorted and began to walk to her. He sat himself down in front of her and she watched as he looked at her closely, arching an eyebrow as he watched. "Are you Sakura?" he asked incredulously.

The female snorted at him and closed her eyes to nestle back into the silver haired male that wouldn't wake up until dawn no matter how much noise they made. She didn't bother to open her eyes when the hand that was on her tail trailed up her back to stroke the fur there and when a different pair of hands began to scratch at her ears.

Almost instantly there was way too much body heat surrounding her and she had the urge to move. But where to? They would most likely follow her if she did, at least she knew Naruto would and he was the one that was emitting most of the heat. Suddenly, a familiar spark of anger shot through the air directed to her area and she opened her eyes to see the dark haired male glaring in her direction. Although she was curious as to what he was angry about, she didn't really care at that moment; she had just found her escape.

Shaking off the hands that were roaming over her, she stood up and jumped over the sleeping body and the blonde, landing gracefully beside the Uchiha. Sakura ignored the surprised and curious looks that were sent her way and sat down next to his crossed legs. The anger she felt from him slowly disappeared as she laid down and nestled her head in his lap. Her eyes didn't stay open long enough to see the glare she received from Karin, the amused gleam in Kakashi's eye, or the shocked expression on Naruto's face.

Unfortunately, she couldn't block out the loud yell from the blonde in protest at her action, making her let out a small whine and bury her head deeper into Sasuke's lap.

"Why do you have to be the one she goes to?" Naruto whined, plopping down on the ground in a pout as he crossed his arms and legs.

Sasuke looked up at him with a blank look. "So now you think that this is Sakura?"

"Well yeah." the blonde replied, his pout still in place.

A smug smirk took over on the dark haired male's features instead of his normal, placid expression. "But why would_ Sakura_ sit in _my_ lap?"

This seemed to throw the blonde off for a moment as he stared, flabbergasted, at the dark haired male. Sakura ignored the two as she focused on going to sleep and she didn't bother to register the fact that the artist had gotten into the argument somehow as well. She drifted in and out of consciousness, the only thing on her mind was how Sasuke's scent surrounded her. It was spicy, electric, and musky. A mixture of power, dominance, and all around male. The pinkette vaguely wondered when it had changed; there was less anger and tension. . .

Right when she was about to slip into slumber fully, the male above her growled. "I could just kill you all right now."

"You don't exactly look threatening at the moment." spoke a voice that she recognized belonged to the artist.

Sakura growled and put her paws into the Uchiha's lap before he had time to get up and do any damage. She could feel his anger swirling around them and it was unnerving her. When he made a move to get up again, she let out another threatening growl and looked up to see him glaring at someone, though she figured it was Sai. Sasuke looked down and narrowed his eyes at her, gritting his teeth. They continued to stare at each other, as if they were having a silent debate on what he should do, and it wasn't far from the truth. She was telling him to remain still, to ignore the pale male and let her get her rest, and she knew he understood what she wanted. But would he do it?

Sakura watched as he gritted his teeth even further and scoffed before leaning back against the tree, crossing his arms and muttering out an irritated, "Fine."

Letting out a breath, the kunoichi settled herself back down, her head nestling back in his lap comfortably. Sasuke turned his gaze to look to the side, content with ignoring everyone for the rest of the night. Though as he felt the wolf drifting to sleep in his lap, he couldn't stop the slight feeling of contentment wash over him.

~_~SCENE CHANGE~~_

Dawn would soon arrive, barely a hint of light lighting over the horizon. Sakura's long tongue stuck out and curled as she yawned silently and stretched out her legs. Jade and cerulean orbs searched through the campsite, noting that the visitors from the night before didn't leave and had fallen asleep in their own respectable places. Her attention was drawn back to the male that she had fallen asleep on top of. The kunoichi looked up to look at his face while he slept. It wasn't as serene and calm as she last saw him when asleep, one could tell that even though he slept, he kept his guard up. His heartbeat and breathing were even but his eyebrows were furrowed, making creases on his forehead and making him look a lot older than what he was.

Sakura managed to carefully crawl off of the male and made her way silently out of the camp, her destination being the nearby water source. It was most likely a river from the small amount of water she could smell.

She quickly made it there and sure enough, it was a river. Though instead of a calm, smooth one that most would expect, it was fast and raging, perfect for a little training. Sakura's form changed back gracefully and she let out a long sigh. Taking off her weapons first, she was soon nude standing before the racing stream. The kunoichi anticipated that someone would wake up in the next hour or so, giving her plenty of time to work on her movements and chakra control.

~_~SCENE CHANGE~~_

She took her time as she readjusted her weapons to her side and back, enjoying the way the morning sunlight glittered on the water of the river. Closing her eyes and letting out a sigh, Sakura dreaded how the morning would turn out and she wondered if the group would stick together or if they would go their separate ways once again. Considering that Naruto's group was only there because of her, they would most likely chase after her, whether she traveled with Sasuke's team or not.

The kunoichi sighed again and headed back to the camp, not entirely sure why she stuck around but she did. As she grew closer, she could begin to hear the ramblings of the blonde male of the joined groups, making her smile lightly. Once she stepped barely a foot into the small area, she wasn't surprised when the loud male tackled her to the ground, making her let out a grunt in response as their bodies landed on the grass and dirt.

"Sakura! I was so worried that you ran off again!" Naruto yelled as he stared down at the kunoichi gritting her teeth from underneath him.

Sakura frowned up at the male straddling her stomach. Why was it that she always ended up in strange positions when she ran into someone or vise versa? "I'm sure someone would have noticed if I wasn't in the area, Naruto."

The blonde raised an eyebrow at her questioningly. "How do I know that this is the real Sakura and not another shadow clone?"

The kunoichi narrowed her eyes at the male. "Because I'm sure a shadow clone couldn't withstand the weight from this thing you call a body." she replied, pushing him off and to the side at the end of her statement. There was a collection of laughs and chuckles from the others but she dismissed them as she stood up and knocked the dirt off of her shorts.

Turning around and ignoring the pout sent toward her by the now standing blonde, she looked over at her amused, former sensei. "So I'm guessing Gaara made it to Suna safely?" she asked. She was a little concerned for the red head, considering that he was most likely still weak and for the group to have caught up to her so quickly, they would've had to leave almost right after she left them.

Kakashi watched her as he nodded. "Yes, I had a shadow clone escort him the rest of the way."

Sakura nodded her head in understanding. At least she didn't have to deal with all of the drama that he was most certainly dealing with. Just the thought of being surrounded by that many people made her want to shudder. Right when Sakura was about to turn her attention back to the blonde, the copy ninja spoke back up seriously.

"By the way, Sakura."

Tilting an eyebrow in curiosity, the kunoichi's ears perked up. "What is it?"

Silence filled the area as everyone waited for what the shinobi would say next. Finally, after what felt like minutes when it was actually seconds, he continued. "Why are the Akatsuki after you?"

Sakura placed her finger to her chin and tilted her head up in thought. Why _did_ the Akatsuki want her? Deidara had mentioned that they needed her alive, but what for? She didn't recall gaining their attention on purpose. She was only a bounty hunter, well at least somewhat. How had they even heard of her? Then again, she supposed it wasn't impossible. She _had_ brought back many heads during those six months that a normal jounin would have trouble with.

'Oh well.' she thought as she looked back down at the male. Shrugging, she mumbled her reply, "I don't know."

"Ne Sakura!" Naruto yelled excitedly, making the pinkette grimace and frown as she looked over at him. His eyes were bright as he grinned at her. "Will you sleep next to _me_ tonight?"

Her frown deepened and she narrowed her eyes at the male as the anticipation for her answer, along with the silence, grew. Even after a few moments of silence, he still waited for her answer, excitement clear in his eyes.

Finally, without any hesitation in her answer, she answered. "No."

Naruto's face fell as he stared at her, his mouth hanging open. Everyone in the area laughed except for two, though she could feel the amusement and slight relief seeping off of one of the males clearly. Without her multicolored eyes leaving Naruto's saddened ones, she felt the water ninja walk over to her, chuckling. Sakura didn't flinch or move when he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and leaned against her, still laughing at the blonde's expense.

"Looks like she doesn't like you." he chuckled. The kunoichi wasn't surprised when Naruto glared at the silver haired water nin.

"Oh, and you think that she likes you any better?!" he questioned, pointing a finger at the male's face.

Suigetsu grinned deviously at the blonde as he replied. "Well she's slept with _me_ plenty of times."

Naruto's face showed absolute shock as he clasped both sides of his head with his palms. "_What?!_" he screeched, his voice seemingly rising an octave.

Sakura had to suppress a whine at the noise as she cringed and her nose twitched. There were so many emotions and scents fluttering around that it was hard to focus on one. Confusion, amusement, shock, anger. Wait. . . Anger?

The kunoichi tried to focus on where it was coming from as her eyes stared at a specific part on the blonde's twitching eyebrow. Her nose flared and she continued to search for the source, doing her best to block everything else out as the two closest to her began to argue. Their words were lost on her but she guessed that whatever they were saying was making the person flare up more since the scent doubled in intensity.

When she found out who it was coming from, she felt like she could smack herself. Who else got angry for no apparent reason while she was around? Then again, she guessed it wasn't for no apparent reason, she just didn't have any idea what the reason was.

Letting out a gruff noise, she shrugged the water nin off her shoulder and walked away from the duo. Plopping down on the ground, she thought about her next move. Yet again. Sakura wasn't sure what she should do, but she still had no intention of going back to Konoha with Naruto and Kakashi. She also wasn't sure if she wanted to stay with the Uchiha and his seemingly growing mood swings. Though she realized, she was starting to have urges. She was starting to want an actual pack; a family. But she couldn't. . . The last family she had was murdered and she wasn't sure if she could handle that again. It was bad enough that she was near Naruto and Sasuke, causing her to slowly get attached again. No, she couldn't do it, she couldn't be around them for much longer. The kunoichi would have to leave really soon.

Sakura turned her head to look up at Naruto now doing his best to get a reaction out of the stoic Uchiha, who just narrowed his eyes at the blonde in return. The kunoichi frowned as she watched them. Yes, she would have to leave _real_ soon.

~_~SCENE CHANGE~~_

Sakura's feet padded against the bark of tree branches as she continued to run. The kunoichi was surprised that she had managed to get away with so many people around, but she doubted that the one closest to her at the time didn't particularly care. Oh well, Sakura didn't care for the female either, especially since her scent still disturbed the pinkette. It seemed nobody had noticed that the shadow clone she left in her place was a fake yet, considering that she couldn't feel them following her.

"It seems that you do not wish to be apart of them." said a calm, stoic voice behind her, making Sakura stop abruptly, her heels digging into an unsuspecting tree branch. Her eyes narrowed as she whipped her head around and looked for the person that found her. She couldn't sense or smell him whatsoever and she didn't recognize his voice. Yet he seemed to know about her situation so she assumed that he had been watching her for awhile and just then decided to make himself known.

Sakura gritted her teeth, still searching for the mysterious presence. "Show yourself." she yelled into the trees, her hand hovering over the handle of her scythe, prepared for an attack.

Her eyes narrowed as the familiar black cloak shifted in the distance and settled onto the branches, the person owning said cloak standing before her. Sakura raised an eyebrow at his features, something unsettling fluttering in the pit of her stomach. As she looked closer, his eyes gave him away, eyes she had seen many times before.

"So you're Itachi." she spoke, her voice showing no hesitation or fear.

"I'm so flattered you heard of me." he replied, his voice calm and collected, showing no signs that his words were true.

The pink haired kunoichi snorted at his comment. Yet another person where she had trouble reading his emotions. Figures. Sakura's fingers wrapped around her weapon's handle and tightened. Her eyes didn't leave his form while she spoke, "Why do you people insist on coming after me? I've been able to escape the Akatsuki so far and I'm sure that I can outrun you too."

"I have no intention of battling you." he said. Though he said those words, Sakura still didn't quite trust him, leaving her to continue standing in a battle stance.

"Then what do you want?" she asked skeptically.

"I have come to enlighten you on the benefits of joining the Akatsuki. Unlike the members you have encountered so far, I do not wish to use force to gain a new member."

Sakura's body relaxed slightly at that, her hand coming back down to land by her side. She couldn't smell any threat coming from him so she would take his word that he wouldn't attack, at least on that, but she would still keep up her guard. "What kind of benefits?" she asked curiously.

His voice didn't change as he replied, "Haven't you ever wanted to get revenge for the deaths of your parents?"

Sakura gritted her teeth and let out a low growl as she glared at the stoic male. "How do you know about that?"

"That is not important at the moment." he replied calmly, making the pinkette glare at him even more. "You have an opportunity to gain enough power to take out your revenge on Konoha, if you so desire. Why decline this opportunity?"

"I could always do it by myself." she replied, raising an eyebrow at him as she watched him carefully. "Why do the Akatsuki need me, of all people?"

"You have proven yourself worthy on many occasions." he commented.

Something about the whole thing didn't sit right with Sakura, yet she wasn't sure what it was. "How long have you been watching me?" she questioned.

"It is not _I_ that watches you."

So they had someone else keeping an eye on her. Just perfect. If Itachi found out about what she had done from this mystery person, then that would mean that they knew about her abilities and her other form. But how long had they been watching? Most likely from the beginning. But why would Itachi come to her asking for her to join, saying that it was beneficial, when the other members tried to force her? And then there was the fact that Sakura had a closer spectator during her battles and she didn't get the chance to see any of his abilities. Tobi. . . He had watched her so closely. . . Almost as if he were-

Sakura's eyes widened in realization. The reasons why she had escaped so easily when fighting against Deidara, Sasori, and Tobi, she understood them. They had allowed her to escape to learn and fully understand her abilities for the future, leaving her at a disadvantage for when they would _actually_ use force to acquire and keep her. They would just give her the option to join before that happened and they would have to take such measures.

The kunoichi gritted her teeth as she glared at the stoic male. How was she going to get out of this one?

"I see you finally understand the situation." he spoke, his voice still calm. Suddenly, he was on the same branch as Sakura, inches in front of her. The kunoichi's jaw tightened and she bared her teeth as she glared up at him. "I will give you until the next full moon to come up with your decision."

The air between them was tense as he reached inside of his cloak and pulled out a ring. Sakura looked at it curiously for a moment before narrowing her eyes at it.

"What's that for?" she asked suspiciously, continuing to eye it as he grabbed her right hand and placed it in her upturned palm. Picking it up with her other hand, she held it out to inspect it. There was a red colored crest with the symbol for scarlet. Turning the ring around between her thumb and index finger, she could feel chakra embedded in the small piece of jewelry. Chakra that she imagined belonged to the male in front of her.

"It is a duplicate of my own ring." he replied, lifting up his hand to show her that he had an exact copy of the ring on his right ring finger. Laying his hand down to rest it by his side, he continued. "It will allow me to know your location at all times and if you remove it, I will know."

Sakura gave him a skeptical look as she lowered her hand and clenched the ring in her hand by her side. "And if I put it on someone else?"

"I would advise against it." he said, his tone seeming a little sharper than before. She could feel it, she was beginning to get on his nerves. Interesting. Then again, Sakura never claimed to be a person that ever got on good terms with an Uchiha. It seemed that she was just a natural at annoying them. Oh well, she didn't care either way.

"You'll find me, no matter where I am, on the full moon?" she questioned, arching her eyebrow at him.

He nodded his head in return. "That is correct."

"Fine, but this isn't going on finger." she said, her voice calm and reserved. And with that, the Akatsuki member vanished, leaving her by herself with only the trees for company. Lifting up her hand to look at the ring in her palm, she glared at it. Sakura wasn't about to wear it on her finger, that was for sure. Maybe she could get a chain to wear it around her neck. The kunoichi wasn't about to test her luck and not keep it on her. She wasn't sure what the Uchiha was capable of and she would do her best to try to avoid trouble.

Five days. She had five days until he would come for her answer. Sakura sighed and clenched the fist that held the ring. She would have to do a lot of thinking. "Hah! Like hell I'm joining!" she shouted, her eyes narrowing at her fist.

~_SCENE CHANGE~~_

The ring rested comfortably against her chest, covered warmly under her tight, red shirt. The chain hugged the skin of her neck and shoulder blades as the new metallic smell floated up to her nose. Sakura sighed as she stared into the contents of her warm tea, slowly getting colder as she continued her silent watching. Four days left. One day closer to when Itachi would come to her for her decision and she still had no intention of joining the Akatsuki. She didn't care for the idea of revenge and if she did, it wouldn't be the whole of Konoha she would destroy. It would just be those damned elders that sentenced her and her family to death. Besides, even Sakura couldn't deny that she cared for her old, blonde teammate, and if she did attack Konoha, that would devastate him. Although she didn't wish to be around him, she figured that she couldn't do that to him.

Jade and cerulean orbs finally broke away from her tea as she looked out of the small stand. It was nearing the afternoon and she had hardly covered any ground since the day before. And sensing the group coming up from the distance, she knew that she wasn't going to cover anymore that day. Letting out another sigh, Sakura looked back down into her tea that she was sure was cold by then.

Minutes passed until she finally felt one of them step to stand behind her. "Looks like I just can't get rid of you." she spoke softly, though instead of it coming out rudely, both knew that it was meant in a joking manner.

"Hn." came her stoic reply. "The dobe wouldn't leave me alone until I helped him find you."

The comment made Sakura smirk. "Joining up with Naruto to find me, huh? How ironic."

She could practically hear the frown in his voice as he spoke. "What do you mean by ironic?"

Sakura shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know." Frowning into the green liquid of her tea, she continued. "For some reason, I just feel like if anything, Naruto and I would be looking for you."

"Hn." Sakura didn't say anything to stop him as he sat into the stool next to hers and placed his elbows on the counter, resting his chin on his hands. "That's how I thought it would have been as well."

Without replying to his comment quite yet, the kunoichi brought the cup to her lips and grimaced as the cold liquid ran down her throat. After swallowing, she stuck out her tongue in disgust and placed the cup on the counter, pushing it away from her. Placing her elbow on the table, she placed her chin in her palm and stared ahead of her toward the other side of the stand and at the wall. "You're awfully talkative today." she spoke calmly.

"Hn."

His reply made her grin and let out a small chuckle. Sighing, she closed her eyes for a moment before getting off the stool to stand up. Once her feet hit the ground, she stretched her arms above her head and made a throaty sound of approval as her back cracked. Without turning around to face him, she began to walk off, only to soon walk into a broad chest that belonged to a familiar shinobi.

Sakura grunted and looked up into a masked face, both frowning at each other. Placing her hand on her hip and tilting her head to the side, she asked casually, "Can I help you, Kakashi-sensei?"

She could feel mild irritation bubble under his stoic demeanor and she figured it was because she had managed to get away from them. Again. Sakura's eyes narrowed as he raised his arms and when he placed his hands on her shoulders to keep her in place, she let out a low, menacing growl. The kunoichi wasn't sure why she did, she just did. Kakashi didn't show it, but she could feel his shock as he released his hold on her.

Sakura could feel Sasuke walking toward her, for which she wasn't surprised. However, she would be lying if she said that she wasn't shocked when he grabbed her wrist tightly. Wide, multicolored eyes turned to look at his stern features, making her narrow her eyes back at him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she barked, her irritation growing.

He returned her glare with one of his own. "You're not going anywhere."

"The hell I'm not!" she yelled, yanking her wrist out of his grasp and gritting her teeth as she turned to fully face him. "You're not the boss of me!" The kunoichi could feel the others of the joint group running up to them to witness the scene but that did nothing to stop her growing anger, them or the villagers joining to witness either.

"Sakura." Sasuke growled in warning.

"Are you seriously growling at _me_?!" she snarled. "Who the hell are you to tell me what not to do?"

She watched as his temper raised and his chakra flared, his eyes narrowing even further as he stared at her. And when his chakra spiked out at her, that was when she felt it. It was like a giant brick cracked up against her chest, making it incredibly hard to breathe for a few seconds and her temples to pound uncontrollably. Her multicolored eyes widened and her face fell in shock as she took a step back. The realization of what it was and how she had reacted to it shocked her even more, even frightened her. His dominance. . . and her submission.

Please review what you think. :)


	6. Realizing Problems

Thank you so much for the reviews, I'm really glad you guys like the story :) And I hope you'll like this chapter as well :)

I also noticed that my scene changes weren't being separated like they were supposed to, I apologize for that and for any confusion it may have caused and from now on I'll make it clearer that the scenes change and I've already gone back and cleared up the mistake in the other chapters.

Chapter 6: Realizing Problems

Sakura could smell the confusion on him as she continued to step back away from him, her eyes still showing her shock. Though after a moment, her shock and fear turned into anger, frustration, and confusion. She didn't know how to deal with this. The kunoichi could remember Sanuko telling her about mates and all that mess, but Sakura didn't think that she would actually find one. And if she did happen to have one, Sakura didn't think that it would be _him_. Why? Oh why did it have to be him?

Closing her eyes in concentration, she thought back to what could have caused him to have taken such a vital role. '_Think, Sakura, think!_' After a view seconds, a gasp left her lips when she remembered. That night in that village near Suna, she and Sasuke had-

"_Ugh!_" she yelled in defeat, throwing her arms in the air dramatically as a deep frown graced her lips. Placing her hands on her hips, she did her best to sound firm as she glared at the dark haired male. "Fine, but I get to visit someone and I need to visit _soon_."

Not bothering to see or hear his response, she turned to Kakashi, giving him a hopeful look. "I assume that's alright with you, Kakashi-sensei." The copy ninja gave her a skeptical look before nodding slowly.

~_~SCENE CHANGE~~_

"_Hey grandma!_" Sakura shouted as she busted the door off of it's hinges. Sakura would've been surprised to see the elderly lady on the top floor by the fireplace if she weren't so irritated.

"Sakura." Sanuko stared up at the pinkette from her sitting position on the floor, slight surprise grazing her features. The elderly woman looked behind the seething kunoichi to see a huge group of males behind her, plus one other female. Looking back to the pinkette, she gave her a blank look. "I wasn't expecting to see you so soon."

Sakura nodded her head and turned her head to look at the copy ninja standing behind her. "Sorry but I need you guys to look out for any Akatsuki members. I can't take the chances of any of them knowing where this hut is."

Most of the members nodded their heads in understanding and took off to search the area, much to her surprise. Turning her head back to the elderly woman watching her, Sakura frowned and made her way to walk further into the room. The kunoichi wasn't surprised when the woman's head picked up more and her nostrils flared at the female's scent.

Sitting down on the ground in front of her, Sakura spoke, "I know you can smell it on me, Sanuko." she began, and they both knew that Sakura was being serious, simply because she used the old woman's name without 'Elder' in front of it.

Sanuko nodded her head and eyed the female carefully, ignoring the rest of the group that walked in and made themselves comfortable in their own way. "It didn't happen on the full moon, did it?"

"No." the kunoichi replied, shaking her head. Thankfully it didn't happen on the full moon. Ugh, sometimes the whole animal form thing gave Sakura headache. There was so many rules and whenever there was something good about the form, there was always something bad about it. For instance, she couldn't get pregnant, which she figured that was a good thing considering she would want to be able to settle down beforehand if that happened, but she could always get pregnant on the full moon. The pinkette didn't understand why that was, but she didn't really care at the moment. "But I need to know how to reverse the side effects of the action."

"Side effects?" the woman questioned, tilting her head to the side, a growing smirk on her lips.

Sakura had to suppress a growl, fully knowing that the old woman was teasing her because the young kunoichi decided she didn't need to pay attention the last time Sanuko went over the topic. "You know what I mean. I'm sorry that I didn't pay attention the last time you told me. I didn't think that it would actually happen."

Sanuko chuckled into her hand as she continued to look at Sakura. "I take it you didn't like the idea."

"No." Sakura growled. She didn't like the idea of being submissive _at all_. "I happen to like my freedom."

"Freedom?" Sanuko questioned, giving the pinkette a quizzical look. "Child, we are never _truly_ free in this world."

It was Sakura's turn to give the woman a questioning look, making Sanuko sigh. "You are still so young and have a lot to learn."

The pinkette furrowed her eyebrows as she took in what the woman had said. Never truly free. . .? The old woman let out another sigh before her expression turned blank. "It is not permanent, Sakura."

Sanuko smiled softly, seeing Sakura's face brighten. "Then it will stop soon?" she asked hopefully.

The old woman shrugged. "Maybe not soon, but it will stop."

The pink haired kunoichi sighed. She would just have to be patient. She could do that. . . She hoped. Her ears perked up in interest as the old woman continued. "Although, if it mainly has to do with the person, you could always get a different mate."

Sakura's ears and cheeks burned in embarrassment, mainly because said 'mate' happened to be in the room with them. A wave of curiosity and confusion flooded the room, along with silence, at the comment. Jade and cerulean continued to watch as the elderly woman smirked at her, making Sakura frown deeply. Of course Sanuko knew that the male was in the room, she just wanted to tease Sakura more and the pinkette knew it.

Sanuko continued to smirk as she slowly stood up, cane beside her, supporting her weight. "Come, Sakura. Show this old woman how soft you've gotten."

The pinkette instantly grinned as she jumped up, eager for the challenge. "Alright, grandma. But I won't go easy on you because you're old."

"Old?!" she yelled in return, instantly swinging her cane around, aiming at the pinkette. Sakura placed her arms in front of her to block the attack, though she let out a grunt when it made contact and she was thrown back. Her petite body quickly flew across the room, busting a huge hole into the wall, and into numerous trees outside. Sakura groaned in pain as she stood up from the tree trunk that she landed against and looked down at her bruised arms. Quickly healing the wounds, she rolled her shoulders and smirked, seeing that the old woman was slowly making her way over to her.

"You didn't let yourself go, I see."

"Like I could let my student pass me!" Sanuko replied, amusement laced in her voice, but then all amusement left as she stopped in front of the kunoichi, her expression serious. "You're getting too soft, child. Do I need you to go through your training again?"

Sakura frowned down at her and could feel the eyes of everyone on her as they gathered to watch carefully. "That won't be necessary, Sanuko." the pinkette replied. Although it was true. She was getting a little soft. She had been so busy keeping away from the Akatsuki that she hadn't been keeping up with her training.

Sanuko frowned at the kunoichi. "Are you sure?" Sakura nodded her head, though the woman didn't seem satisfied with her answer. "Then you will have no trouble getting my cane from me."

The pink haired kunoichi narrowed her eyes as she looked at the blasted piece of wood by the woman's side. "I can't believe you actually got grandpa to make you a new one."

"Yes, he made it so that it would be harder to break this time." Sanuko grinned.

"Great." Sakura groaned before jumping into the tree branches above her to avoid an attack. Looking back down to see that Sanuko was no longer there, the pink haired kunoichi put up her guard, along with masking her chakra and scent. She ignored the spectators as her eyes skimmed through the area, searching for any sign of her elderly sensei.

A sharp wind crashed through the trees behind her and Sakura jumped into the air, only having to dodge another attack from her left. Gritting her teeth, the kunoichi landed on a branch and quickly jumped off of it before the next attack hit her. Her lithe body spun in the air, high above the tree tops as she searched through the area.

"How do you expect to get my cane when you keep running from me?" yelled the woman from below her, but Sakura ignored her comment, continuing to search for her hidden presence.

"Damn trees." she cursed, gritting her teeth. Doing the hand signs within seconds, Sakura shifted her body around, making her form go higher up into the air. Flicking both of her wrists, she watched as a strong wind came from her palms, cutting into the forest below. Luckily they had moved positions some so that the hut and spectators weren't in the line of fire. Sakura landed on the ground and didn't even bother to look at the damage she had caused as she searched for the old lady.

"What was that?!" the old woman taunted loudly behind her. Sakura whipped her body around, barely having enough time to block a blow from her cane.

Gritting her teeth again and holding in a sarcastic retort, Sakura swung her leg around, aimed for the woman's head, which she had to block quickly. The battle turned into a fierce, taijutsu competition, sparks of chakra flying out, barely contained, with each blow that was landed, blocked or not. Sweat was beginning to cover Sakura's body as she did her best to evade and counter the old woman.

~~_SCENE CHANGE~~_

Sakura panted as she stared carefully at the old woman, sweat covering her entire body and blood falling from her lip and broken arm. Her body trembled as she struggled to keep standing, her muscles screaming at her in protest. She huddled over and coughed out a patch of blood that was previously stuck in her throat. Though her own injuries did not bother her, for she took pride in seeing the state Sanuko was in herself.

The old woman had worked up quite a sweat as well, as she let out ragged breaths. Sakura had managed to dislocate her shoulder and scraped her up pretty badly. Once she seemed to gather enough breath to speak evenly, she commented, "It seems that even after all of that, you were still unable to take my cane away from me." Her voice lowering, she continued, "I'm disappointed in you Sakura."

Said kunoichi smirked in return. "We both know damn well that you won't let go of that stick." Her smirk didn't leave as she brought her one good arm up and performed a hand sign. Not a moment later, Sanuko's cane shattered into tiny, wooden pieces. Seeing the woman's surprised expression made Sakura want to laugh, but she was too weak to, so she settled on; "Now who's getting soft?" before her body went numb and her form started to fall forward as darkness overtook her.

~~_SCENE CHANGE~~_

Jade and cerulean orbs slowly opened to the sound of people talking. Before she even had time to sit up, a heavy bundle was thrown on top of her, making her groan in pain.

"About time you woke up." she heard the old woman grumble as the pinkette looked down to see part of the body of a full grown bear covering her from her waist down.

The kunoichi groaned again as she crawled from under it and kicked it away. When she put pressure on her injured arm, she let out a loud hiss, gathering the concern of many in the room. Looking down at the wound, she frowned.

"I told you we should've helped her!" whined a voice that made Sakura cringe. She did not want to hear something so loud after just waking up. The kunoichi looked up and frowned at the distressed Naruto now hovering above her, clearly concerned over her and it looked like he had been worried over her well being for awhile. "I'm sorry Sakura! I wanted to help you but that mean, old hag told me not to touch you!"

Sakura's frown deepened as she stared at them, feeling Sanuko's frustration grow. "Who the hell are you calling 'old', you little brat?!" the woman yelled, making Sakura cringe.

Sighing, she turned her attention back to her wound. The bone was still broken but thankfully, it wasn't sticking out of her skin just yet, just tearing at her muscles and veins. There was a loud snapping noise as she pulled at her arm and snapped the bone in place, making some of the shinobi in the room cringe, mainly Naruto. Letting out another sigh, she applied healing chakra to her palm and placed it over the wounded area, tending to the bone first and then the rest.

While she continued that, she looked up slightly to look over the dead bear. "How long have I been out?"

"Three hours." Sanuko replied, going over to sit on the couch and make herself comfortable.

When Sakura was finished, she flexed her arm and fingers to test it. When she was satisfied with it, she reached into her weapons pouch and pulled out a kunai. Without bothering to look up as she began to skin the bear next to her, she felt everyone's presence in the living room. Naruto was in front her, watching curiously as she pulled the fur and skin from the dead mammal. Kakashi was standing by the ladder to the room above, watching her as well. In fact, the kunoichi noticed that everyone was watching her as she worked, all from their own positions in the room.

"Sakura?" the blonde mumbled.

"Hmm?" she hummed, not bothering to look up as she peeled the skin back from the bear's back to get at a better angle.

"What are you doing?"

Sakura furrowed her eyebrows and that was when she stopped her work to look up at the blonde quizzically. "What do you mean? Isn't it obvious?"

Naruto tilted his head to the side and frowned at her. "But why?"

That seemed to throw her off for a moment. Why was she doing it? Nobody had asked her to and Sanuko hadn't told her to, so why was she doing it? Looking back down at the mammal, she didn't know why. "I guess old habits die hard." she mumbled.

A small chuckle could be heard throughout the room and Sakura turned her head to see Sanuko grinning at her. After a moment, the smirk turned into a soft smile, making Sakura smile at her in return. "Welcome home, Sakura."

The pinkette's smile brightened. "Its good to be home."

"I trust you and your friends will stay for dinner."

The kunoichi didn't have time to respond as Naruto jumped up into the air excitedly, "You better count on it, Granny!"

Sakura let out a small laugh when the elderly woman glared at the male, making many of the others let out laughs and chuckles as well. Turning her attention back to skinning the animal, Sakura quickly finished and began to cut the meat into different portions.

~_~SCENE CHANGE~~_

The stars were bright, shining beautifully against the sky as she stared up at them from her position on the high tree branch. It was quiet, the only sound being the sound of their joined breathing and heart beats. Sakura knew that he was there, though he didn't purposefully make himself known, other than his strong, masculine scent. She was aware that he had masked his chakra, obviously not wanting her to know of his presence, though it did no good. At least the third person didn't bother with such disguises as she jumped on top of a nearby branch and sat down, making herself comfortable as she looked up into the stars as well.

A comfortable silence fell between them for long moments until Sakura broke it, speaking softly as she didn't move to look at the person she was speaking to. "I can't stay with them forever."

Sanuko nodded her head in understanding. "You're instincts are getting stronger with each passing day. Its only natural to want to protect them."

Sakura frowned and tilted her head to the side, the back of her scalp rubbing against the bark of the tree. "Yet it feels like I'll only end up hurting them in the end."

"There's more to this than you're letting on, child. Why are you so afraid?"

The kunoichi closed her eyes and continued to frown. "Afraid? I guess I am afraid, but I'm not sure why."

"Do not lie to me, child."

Sakura's frown lifted up into a weak smile. Why had she even tried? She should have known better than to try to lie to the old woman. After all, her senses were developed far more than Sakura's and the young kunoichi was able to catch onto a lie easily; it was a sour smell, really hard to miss.

Opening her eyes to look back up at the starry sky, her smile saddened. "I guess I'm afraid of having a family again."

Sanuko nodded her head again. She could understand where the teenager was coming from, after all, she had been the one to pick up the broken pieces after it had happened, she had been the one to keep Sakura from going after the death of her parents. "Sometimes we can't let our fears control our lives, Sakura." she spoke softly, reassuringly.

The pinkette let out a long sigh before replying quietly, "I know."

"So are you planning on changing your mate?"

Sakura had to catch herself before she fell out of the tree in shock. A blush covered her cheeks and her eyes widened as she turned to look at the woman grinning at her. "W-what?"

"Come now, child. I may not be young, but I am not blind to the chemistry between you two."

The blush on the kunoichi's cheeks deepened as she frowned and looked away. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Sanuko let out a heartfelt laugh and looked back up at the stars. The woman wasn't at all surprised when the young female spoke back up, her voice quiet as she mumbled, "We are too different, grandma. There is too much tension for there to be any chemistry between us."

"Is that so?" the woman grinned.

Sakura nodded, her frown back in place as she watched the bright twinkles in the night sky. "Yeah."

"You believe him to be indifferent?"

The pinkette sighed. Why was she asking about these things? "Why are you so interested in him, grandma? I'll most likely end up taking another mate, if I can."

"Are you so eager to toss him aside?"

Sakura's frown deepened at her question. "That's not it. It's just. . ."

Sanuko tilted her head to the side, catching on rather quickly. "You do not trust him with your heart."

The pinkette slowly nodded, a weak "Yeah." leaving through her lips and drifting into the wind. They both understood the situation the young female was in. Sanuko didn't ask anymore questions as they both listened to their surroundings.

"You better get back to your hut before Naruto manages to break something." Sakura said after awhile.

Nodding, Sanuko stood up on the branch. Looking back over at the pink haired female, she softly spoke, "You are always welcome here, Sakura, no matter what you choose."

The kunoichi turned her head and offered the elderly woman a warm smile. "Thanks Sanuko."

The woman nodded her head in return and just like that, she was gone. Sighing, Sakura turned her head to look back up at the sky and closed her eyes. "How long are you going to hide yourself from me?"

Sakura didn't bother to open her eyes to see him appear beside her, on the branch that Sanuko had been on only moments before. "You knew I was here the whole time?"

The kunoichi nodded her head in return, her eyes still closed as she listened to their joint breathing and heartbeats.

"Hn."

Silence fell between them as she listened to him make himself comfortable sitting down. Something bubbled underneath his skin and she was eager to find out what the cause of it was. "You're curious."

"Hn."

"Ask away." she sighed, finally opening her eyes to look up at the sky.

"What did she mean by mate?"

The kunoichi had trouble suppressing a loud groan. Of course he would ask about the one thing she didn't want to talk about. "What do you think it means?"

"Sakura."

"What?" she asked, her voice coming out a bit colder than she meant it to.

"Who is it?"

Shock and frustration coursed through her at his question. He could _not_ have been- "Are you serious?" she asked, gritting her teeth as her eyes narrowed.

"Hn."

That comment, that one, stupid, two-lettered comment only seemed to fuel her growing anger. How could someone that was so observant be so _dense_?! "If you don't know then too bad." she replied, doing her best to control her temper. Unfortunately, her response only seemed to flare his.

"Tell me, Sakura." he growled.

Looking away from the starry sky, she turned a glare at the young Uchiha, a deep frown adorning her lips. "No."

He matched her glare with one of his own and she could see that he was clenching his fists, frustration flowing under the surface of his features. "Tell me."

"Why?" she barked, "Its not like you care. So what would it matter if I have someone that I like to spend time with? You have no right or say in who I wish to mate."

"Stop using that word." he growled. "You are _not_ a wolf, Sakura. So stop acting like it."

The kunoichi felt something stab at her chest but she ignored it as she stood up and glared down at the dark haired male. "Who are you to tell me what I am? You don't know a damn thing about who I am!" Her multicolored orbs followed as he stood up to match her fierce gaze, his form seemingly towering over hers even though he was feet away from her.

"I know that you're spouting nonsense so that it makes it easier to deal with."

"Deal with what?" she growled. "The fact that you're an incompetent ass, even to your own teammates? Or the fact that I can always smell your jealousy when another man touches me?" Sakura's eyes widened in realization as Sasuke's glare deepened and he gritted his teeth, fighting for control over his anger. Why hadn't she seen it sooner? At first she didn't know if it was true and she merely wanted to test him to see if it was. But as she felt his anger boil, along with many other emotions, she knew that she was right.

"That's not true." he growled out, his eyes darkening with rage.

"Fine, tell yourself that if it makes you feel better!" she yelled, angry that he would try to deny it when he was so clearly caught.

"Why would I be jealous for _you_?!" he yelled, his chakra rising.

A familiar pain stabbed at Sakura's chest, but it was more than the submission taking effect, which terrified the kunoichi as her body fell to the branch and slumped over in pain. Her breathing came out ragged and heavy as she clutched at the area over her heart, her eyes wide with horror. She couldn't be- No! Sakura wouldn't allow it. This man was crude, heartless, and withdrawn. She couldn't be reacting like this. The kunoichi gritted her teeth. She would have to do something about it soon. The easiest thing that came to mind was to find a different mate, and soon.

After a moment of silence, she collected herself and didn't bother to look at the dark haired male as she performed a hand sign and disappeared instantly. She had to get away from him, and hopefully she wouldn't have to be around him for a long time after morning.

~~_SCENE CHANGE~~_

Sakura groaned as she turned and looked up at the ceiling. Three days. Three more days until the full moon and when Itachi would find her for her answer. Letting out a sigh, she ran her hand through her pink strands that hugged her forehead and cheeks. She had come to a shocking and scary realization the night before, two in fact. One: Sasuke had been jealous those times when other males were too close to her and Two: she had felt pain when he claimed that he wouldn't be jealous for her.

The kunoichi couldn't be around him for much longer, that she knew for a fact. But what would she do? No matter how long she ran or where she ran to, they would always end up finding her. Sakura sighed again and sat up, the cover made of bear fur falling off of her as she stared down at it. Her ears listened silently to the even breathing of the people around her. It seemed that she was the first to awaken, aside from one that always woke up hours before she did, no matter what.

Turning her head to look at the elderly woman sitting down in a corner and working on a new cloak, Sakura frowned, not quite sure how to express her desires to the old woman.

Her voice was calm and understanding and she didn't bother to look up at the kunoichi as she spoke quietly, "You don't need to say anything Sakura, I understand. Be careful on your journey. I'll be looking forward to your next visit."

Apparently she didn't need to express them, but that didn't surprise the young kunoichi. "Thank you, grandma."

Sanuko nodded her head in return and not a moment later, Sakura was gone, only the cover and lingering scent of her showing that she had been there at all.

~_~SCENE CHANGE~~_

Sasuke's eyes fluttered open and he quickly looked over his surroundings in the room from his leaning position against the wall. Almost instantly, his eyes landed on the spot where a certain, pink haired kunoichi had once been. An unsettling feeling formed in the pit of his stomach as his eyes roamed over the room. Everyone else had yet to awaken except for the old woman as she sat in a corner working with a bundle of furs. He watched her carefully, about to ask where Sakura had went when she spoke up.

"She is not here." Her voice was calm yet cold as she addressed him without looking up from her work. "I suggest you make up your mind on what you want, lad, before you go after her."

Sasuke was a bit surprised, though his expression didn't show it. How did that old woman know what he was going to ask and what he was planning on doing? After a moment of silence, Sanuko finally looked up to meet his eyes and her orbs and voice were stern as she spoke. "You are not deserving of her."

The Uchiha's eyes did widen at that but they quickly settled back into his stoic mask. He covered up his surprise by narrowing his eyes at her. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Sanuko's eyes narrowed back at him as she scowled. "Perhaps you should try listening to her instead of wearing this stupid mask of indifference."

"What?" he growled, irritation starting to bubble.

"You heard me, lad." she replied, her voice hard, obviously not threatened by him. "She is not a fool and she will toss you aside if you poss a threat to her well being."

Sasuke let out a low growl at her comment, not liking the idea of being 'tossed aside' at all. And without bothering to reply to the old woman, he took off in search for the young female.

~~_SCENE CHANGE~~_

Feet padded against the grass and dirt as they headed east, only a few hours away from Sanuko's hut. Sakura stopped under a large tree that seemed to overcast everything in sight. Her orbs looked up at it as the morning light flitted through the cracks of the branches and leaves. The young female let out a long sigh, exhaustion taking it's toll even though her body wasn't tired. She was just so frustrated. Why did she have to mate with an insensitive ass? But of course, that was just Sakura's luck it seemed. Then again, it was her fault for not being able to control her urges.

All of a sudden, a familiar chakra signature flared in anger behind her and she didn't need to turn around to know who it was. She had felt that same anger many times before, but she was slightly surprised that he had bothered to mask his scent also until making himself known behind her.

"What do you want, Sasuke?" she asked, her voice calm, not showing her inner turmoil and confusion. His frustration seemed to grow with her comment as his chakra flared a bit more, making shivers travel down her spine and her chest to tighten.

Before she had time to move, his hands were gripping her wrists and she was spun around as her back pressed back into the large tree behind her. Gritting her teeth, she glared up at him as he scowled down at her.

"What do you think you're doing?" she spat out, her own anger growing as his grip on her wrists tightened by her side, holding her in place.

"You will tell me _exactly_ what the hell is going on." he growled out lowly, his face leaning in closer to hers threateningly.

"No." she whispered, her voice firm and cold. No, she couldn't tell him about the mating situation. She couldn't afford to tell him that if he learned how to properly do it, she would become submissive to him in every possible way. That in terms of pack, he was her alpha and she had to obey, otherwise her body would be filled with exquisite pain. Like at that moment, she wanted nothing more than to either give in to him and tell him what he wanted to know or run away and make the pain go away that way. She was hoping more for the latter, but that didn't seem to be happening any time soon.

"_Sakura_." he growled out, pressing his body against hers and she could feel the warmth from him, threatening to consume her very being. His scent clouded her senses suddenly, filling her nostrils with his unique, fiery smell and she had trouble trying to focus on anything else.

Sakura bit her lower lip harshly to keep in a groan. That would've been hard to explain, extremely hard. To get excited over something as him pressing into her, breathing heavily as he forced his dominance onto her, and she could do nothing but yield to him. _Damnit!_ She had to get out of there!

"Fine, what do you want to know?" she frowned deeply.

This seemed to calm him down a bit, much to Sakura's relief. "First of all, what is this about you being a wolf?"

The pink haired kunoichi turned her gaze to the side to avoid his prying eyes as she answered in a calm voice, "Everyone has an animal form. It just takes a complicated jutsu to unlock it and once you perform that jutsu, you take the animal's form and become one with it."

"Go on." Sakura could feel and hear the curiosity in the dark haired male's voice and she wondered what had caused him to take an interest in her that led him to ask. He hadn't seemed at all interested in believing her before.

"You unlock it's instincts and senses and take on characteristics of it's form. Hence my eye and hair." Looking back into his eyes with a new confidence, she continued in a calm voice, "That form makes me who I am and not even you can change that fact, Sasuke. Whether you choose to accept this answer or not, I do not care. I am proud of who I am."

His eyes softened for a moment before turning questioning as he frowned down at her. "You said that you unlock it's senses."

"That's right." she nodded, wondering what could be on his mind.

"How much can you sense?"

Sakura frowned at him and tilted her head to the side. "Everything."

She felt his heart skip a bit, making her curiosity spark, as his frown deepened. "You're lying."

The kunoichi straightened her head and glared up at the dark haired male. "Excuse me?"

"You're lying." he repeated, his voice firm as he matched her glare. "There's no way in hell that you can sense everything that goes on around you."

Sakura grimaced as the grip on her wrists tightened their hold almost painfully. "And why the hell no-" The pinkette was caught off when a pair of lips pushed roughly against her own. Her multicolored orbs were wide with shock as he continued to push against her, her back digging painfully into the bark of the tree behind her.

Her body was unresponsive until she gasped when he bit her lower lip. The slight gap was enough for access as he slipped his tongue passed her lips. His body pressed into hers even more and she could clearly feel and smell his growing arousal. Sakura's eyes slowly fluttered closed as she gave in to his silent request for her cooperation. Pressing back just as hard, she nibbled on the appandage invading her mouth.

The low growl that escaped him sent delicious shivers down her spine and it caused a small moan to pass through her throat and onto the dark haired male's tongue. Sakura didn't make any move of protest as he placed his hand under her knee and lifted up her leg to wrap it around his waist.

Letting out a growl of her own, Sakura pushed against him even harder and forced his tongue back with her own and nipped at his swollen lips. Then she slithered her tongue into his warm cavern, tasting and exploring.

A gasp left Sakura when the Uchiha started to slowly rock up against her, his covered length rubbing against her core as he brought her other leg up to wrap it around his waist. She hadn't expected him to act like this at all, though she wasn't entirely complaining about his chose of actions. Though if she hadn't come to him before and had sex with him, Sakura was positive that she wouldn't be allowing him to touch her the way he was. The kunoichi knew that it was her submissive position taking over, or at least, she hoped that was why she let him continue.

Sasuke slowly raked his tongue across the kunoichi's neck, gently moving the hair that hung there out of the way for better access. Sakura closed her eyes as she secretly reveled in the feeling of his tongue scraping across her skin. She arched her back as his hand gripped the hair at her scalp while the other went down to cup one of her ass cheeks, pulling her even closer against him if their separated bodies allowed it.

The pinkette bit her lip but still couldn't keep in a moan when she felt teeth dig into the side of her neck. Thrusting her hips forward, she softly grinned at the hiss that sounded in her ear. Doing it again, she gasped when he growled and bit harder into her neck. It wasn't hard enough to draw blood, but if it did break her skin, she wasn't worried about it. She could just heal the wound and it'd be as good as new. Either way, the action turned her on immensely and left her clutching the back of his shirt.

Sasuke pulled away from her neck, seeing that a bruise was starting to form around the area he had bitten her, and went back to kissing her. His lips glided over hers soothingly as he stroked her tongue with his. A feeling of pride washed over him when she let out a mewl of appreciation and pressed harder against him.

Sakura felt the hand that was on her backside roam over her and rest against her hip, stroking at the material of clothing there for a moment before gliding over to her front and in between her thighs. Gasping, the kunoichi broke away from the kiss for a much needed breathe. "Sasuke." she whispered huskily, making him groan in response.

"_Sakura_."

The reality of the situation crashed back down on the pink haired female. If she allowed things to continue then they would undoubtedly have sex again, and then that would just worsen her situation. He seemed to notice that something was off with her since he pulled back to fully look at her expression, which was laced with frustration and confusion.

"Sakura, what's wrong?" he asked and the slight sound of concern in his voice threw Sakura completely off.

Turning to look away from him, she mumbled, "Nothing." As if that wasn't the most obvious lie in the world.

"Bullshit." he replied, narrowing his eyes at her slightly. As gently as he could, he grabbed her chin and turned her head so he could look into her multicolored orbs, as if he could find the answer to his question by looking into them. Yet the longer he watched her, the more her eyes and face would even out, soon turning into a stoic mask where he couldn't read her at all. The realization of not being able to read her like he used to made him growl out of frustration.

He wasn't the only one doing the studying however. Sakura watched as his own eyes portrayed his inner thoughts, along with his scent. She could tell that he was confused by her sudden shift in attitude and after awhile, his irritation grew over any other emotion and that unsettled her.

Once his grip on her loosened and Sakura could stand fully on the ground, her hand came up to form a hand sign, her form disappearing instantly. She didn't stay long enough to see his look of surprise, then the rise of anger, and finally, his loud yell of frustration as he slammed his fist against the large tree in front of him.

Please review :) The next chapter, Itachi comes back for Sakura's decision. Ohh the anticipation ;)


	7. Making Choices

It's been awhile since I last updated this story, but I thank you guys for being so patient with it. I hope you'll like this chapter just like all the others. I tried to make it a bit more comical than my previous ones. Please enjoy :)

Chapter 7: Making Choices

Sakura looked up into the starry sky, the full moon taunting her as she laid down on the large tree branch, her legs hanging over the side and swinging lazily. He was searching for her, she knew he was and she knew that he would find her soon enough. He would ask for her answer, and she would give it. She would find out what it was that they wanted from her before she made her final choice however. Perhaps she could gather information about the organization that would benefit her in the future.

"Have you made your decision?"

The pink haired kunoichi let out a dramatic sigh, but didn't move to get up or look at the male. "I just want to know one thing before I make a final decision."

"What is it?" he asked, his voice stoic.

"What would happen if I decline?" she asked, swinging her leg back and forth as she waited for his answer.

"You will be hunted down and taken as a prisoner."

Sakura let out another sigh and closed her eyes. "Fine." she said, "I'll join, but on one condition."

"Which is?" he asked calmly.

"I keep my ability to travel and you contact me somehow for when you need me."

"How will we know that we have your loyalty?"

'Smart man.' the kunoichi smirked to herself, opening her eyes to look back at the full moon. "I'm sure you'll come up with something, but I would appreciate it if you didn't have someone spying on me all of the time." The mystery person still got under Sakura's skin, mainly because she couldn't sense or smell him anywhere near her at all. Yet with the knowledge that she had been watched, she felt her skin crawling every time she was alone.

"Very well." A moment later, he was standing beside the kunoichi, looking down at her. "Give me the ring." Frowning, Sakura groaned and sat up before reaching under her shirt to collect the piece of jewelry. She pulled the chain up over her head and handed it to the stoic male, silently watching as he poured more of his chakra into it. After he finished, he picked up her hand and placed it into her palm.

"Put your chakra into it."

Though giving him a questioningly look at first, the kunoichi looked down at the ring and did as she was told, pouring her own chakra into it. Multicolored orbs watched quietly as the stone turned from a red to a soft pink color and the kanji slowly changed from saying 'scarlet' to 'pain'. Odd. Either way, it was still interesting to see the changes.

"Wear it on the little finger of your left hand."

Sakura nodded softly as she examined the jewelry piece closer, bringing it up so the moon light would reflect off of it to show off the jewel even more.

"It will send out a wave of my chakra through your body when you are needed."

The kunoichi frowned at that as she continued to look at the ring. "I'm not sure how I should feel about that."

"Failing to comply will result in punishment."

Sakura's ears perked up as she looked at the older Uchiha's blank expression. "You mean like a spanking?" she frowned, tilting her head to the side. A smirk grazed her lips when his eyebrow twitched and she could feel his sudden discomfort, though he didn't show it.

Choosing to avoid answering her question, he replied calmly, "I will let the others know." And with that, he was gone, leaving the pinkette to chuckle to herself.

Letting out a sigh, Sakura ignored what Itachi had said about putting the ring on her left hand's pinky and slid the chain back over her neck. She looked at the crest one last time before putting the ring under her shirt again, covering it from the rest of the world; hiding away the fact that she had just become a member of the Akatsuki. Although, the organization wasn't aware where her loyalty lied. She had her own reasons for joining and hopefully she could fulfill them without any trouble. After all, she was mainly doing it to keep Naruto safe and she couldn't afford anything to screw that up. Even if she didn't want to be near him, she could still protect him.

~~_SCENE CHANGE~~_

"What is it?" the kunoichi asked rather rudely as she stood impatiently in the center of a darkened room, her arms folded over her chest and a scowl on her features. She had been called in the middle of a good rest, a rest that she needed greatly after dealing with a group of bandits that were after her head. It had been a long time since the last time she had to deal with a group of that sorts and it left her in a frustrated mood.

"You will watch you tongue, wench!" yelled a loud voice that definitely belonged to a male. Sakura's temper rose even higher at his demand and authoritative tone, making her grit her teeth and clench her fists.

"Calm down, Hidan." spoke a voice that belonged to a different male that came from in front of her. "She does not know of our ways yet, though she will quickly learn."

The dark room did nothing to cover the features of the members around her as they stood in lines. Four members to her left and four to her right. A male and female stood in front. The pink haired kunoichi looked them over carefully, being able to pick out the scent of one on the other. An interesting couple if nothing else. Ignoring them for a moment, her eyes raked over the other members carefully. She instantly spotted Deidara and Tobi next to the one that had yelled a few moments before; the one called Hidan. Next, she spotted the red head she had encountered a few times. Then she spotted Itachi and three others she hadn't seen before.

"Today we will test your loyalty, kunoi-"

"Sakura." the female interrupted him, turning to look back at him. "If I'm going to work for you, then address me properly. My name is Sakura." The pinkette could feel multiple emotions around her, the ones standing out to her the most being anger and amusement. She was well aware that if they wanted to, they could kill her, but she didn't let that fact frighten her.

"Very well." the orange haired male nodded, his eyes never leaving hers, though she wasn't sure if he could actually see her since the room was so dark. "Sakura, we will test your loyalty."

The kunoichi nodded her head, prepared for anything that he would dish out.

"It is my understanding that you are close friends with the Kyuubi."

"Was close friends." she corrected, "And if you're asking for his location, I don't know it."

"Is that so?" he asked, and Sakura could tell that he didn't quite believe her. Though it was true, she hadn't seen Naruto or anyone else ever since she left them at Sanuko's hut, which happened to be a week ago.

Nodding, she replied calmly, "That's right."

"Since you claim that you are no longer friends, then you would have no problem hunting him down and bringing him back here so we can extract the Kyuubi."

"I must decline." she spoke without hesitation not a moment after he finished his sentence.

"What?!" There was a loud yell of outrage after those words left her lips. "Who the hell do you think you are?!" the one called Hidan yelled, making Sakura turn to look at him and narrow her eyes at him.

"Silence Hidan." The white haired male continued to glare at her for a moment before calming down slightly. Sakura snorted smugly at him before turning to look at the 'leader' of the organization. "I trust you have good reason."

The pinkette nodded her head. "I refuse to help with the capture of the Kyuubi. I do, however, possess insight of the locations of two other Jinchuuriki." It was a low blow, Sakura knew, but she couldn't do anything to put Naruto in danger and if she could put a hold on their attempt of his capture, then she wouldn't regret it.

"Go on."

The kunoichi let out a long sigh before giving them the information she knew.

~_~SCENE CHANGE~~_

"You got some mouth on you, don't you?" a familiar voice said behind her.

Sakura frowned as she turned around and looked up to meet the scowl of a white haired male. The one that had been called Hidan. Her eyes narrowed as she regarded him carefully. "And you got some temper in that thick skull, huh?"

His glare intensified as he bared his teeth at her. "You bitch! Don't go thinking that you get away with shit like that just because you're not in the leader's presence!"

The long hall filled with his bellows and heavy breathing, neither threatening the kunoichi to back down from the huge man. Tilting her head to the side and placing her hand on hip, she responded in a mocking voice, "Am I supposed to be frightened?"

There was a loud growl that echoed throughout the walls as the male readied the three bladed scythe that was previously on his back. "That's it! Your ass is being sacrificed to Jashin-sama!"

Sakura easily dodged the weapon as he swung it around. With grace, she landed on the farthest blade and knelt down, frowning at the furious male as he glared at her. He let out a yell of frustration as he swung it around again, Sakura jumping up and flipping in the air to avoid the attack.

"That's not a bad weapon you've got there." she spoke calmly, landing on his shoulders.

"Damnit! Hold still you little bitch!"

Before he could move to attack her again, Sakura pressed her fingers into the back of his neck harshly, spreading her chakra throughout his spinal cord; the same move she had used on Deidara and Sasori when battling them. The male cussed loudly as he found that he couldn't move his body.

"What the hell did you do?!" he yelled, making Sakura cringe from the loudness and their proximity.

"What's going on here?" asked a calm voice that was rounding the corner in front of them. Sakura looked up and frowned as she watched Itachi make his way closer to the duo, along with another member she didn't know, though she had seen him in that darkened room she was previously in. She could sense both male's amusement, though the male that resembled a shark more so as he grinned at her and Hidan. The pinkette could smell the water that seeped through his chakra, signaling that he was a Wave shinobi. Though his chakra and scent did nothing to calm her, unlike Suigetsu's.

"Tell this bitch to get off me!"

Sakura's frown turned into a deep scowl as she glared down at the male. "I'm getting really tired of you calling me that."

"Too bad, bitch!" he yelled.

Growling out of frustration, the kunoichi fluently slid off of his shoulders and with her other hand, hit the pressure points down his spine. Without any trouble whatsoever, she grabbed his quickly slumping body by the arm and threw him into the wall next to them, sending him crashing through it and into the walls passed that.

"Bastard." she hissed, her irritation dissipating some with the lack of his loud, obnoxious presence. Turning her attention back to the duo in front of her, she could smell their shock and surprise very clearly. Raising an eyebrow at their silence, she asked casually, "Did you guys need something?"

The shark man only smirked at her as he let out a loud chuckle and made his way to her. Raising an eyebrow, she watched him carefully as he threw his arm over her shoulder in amusement. "Such a feisty one we got here, eh Itachi?"

"Hn." Ugh, there was that dreadful word again. Sakura had to suppress the urge to scowl at the dark haired male that looked so much like his younger brother. It was a fact that she was slowly starting to dislike.

"My name's Kisame."

The pinkette looked up at the shinobi leaning against her, furrowing her eyebrows a bit at his proximity. "Nice to meet your acquaintance." she replied, nodding before shrugging off his arm. She didn't like the physical contact at all.

~_~SCENE CHANGE~~_

Letting out a sigh, Sakura made her way to the room where she could smell food. Stepping passed the doorway, she walked straight into a large kitchen. Good, she wanted something to eat before she went on her way. The kunoichi didn't want to be around the members any longer than what she had to, though she was contemplating whether or not to stay long enough to look through their library, if they had one. Her eyes roamed over the kitchen, noting that the ones in there she had already met in one way or another. Deidara was sitting at a large table in the center of the room next to Tobi and the redhead whose name she still didn't know. Then again, she could vaguely remember the blonde yelling it once. What was it again?

"Hey, Sasori-danna." Oh yeah, that was it. At least she didn't have to wait that long to get her answer. Though it seemed a bit odd that the puppet was there when she wasn't even sure that he could eat or not.

Itachi was leaning against the counter as he chewed on slices of a tomato. The one she met earlier, Kisame, was sitting at the table as well, conversing with the ones there.

The kunoichi tuned them out for the most part as she walked over to a well-sized fridge and opened it. Her multicolored eyes roamed over the contents, noting that there weren't many. Frowning, she closed the fridge door and looked over at the Uchiha silently watching her.

"This is ridiculous. How the hell do you keep enough food for ten people?"

Itachi shrugged in response, making her frown deepen. "Hey! There's that wench!" a loud, male voice echoed throughout the room, causing Sakura's frown to deepen as she narrowed her eyes at the blonde looking at her. He stood up in his chair and walked over to her, his blue eye narrowed as he matched her with a scowl.

"You got something to say?" she spoke threateningly.

"Actually, yeah I do, un." he replied, stopping to stand a few feet in front of her. "Now you have no where to run to." His scowl turned into one of a smirk as he brought his arms up and placed his palms against the fridge door, trapping her movement between his hands. Anticipation of her next filled the room as they stared at each other, both watching for the others next move.

Sakura reared her teeth back into a small snarl as his hand snaked down closer to her waist. "What's the matter?" he grinned down at her. "Nervous to actually have a man touch you, yeah?"

A _man_? This blonde male couldn't have been much older than her and he had the nerve to call himself a man? This male couldn't handle her even if he tried. A smirk of her own formed on Sakura's lips as she replied, "Says the only virgin in the room."

There was a loud outbreak of laughter from the Wave ninja whilst Tobi snickered and Itachi quietly chuckled. Sakura could imagine a smirk playing at Sasori's lips. It seemed everyone had taken an amusement from her comment as the blonde stumbled back from her in shock.

After getting over the shock and embarrassment he felt, his features settled into a scowl. "You can't tell if I am or not, un. How do we know that you just didn't come up with that?"

Sakura continued to smirk at the blue eyed male. "Simple, Blondie." she replied before running a hand through the hair of his ponytail teasingly and stepping closer so that their chests were almost touching. Blue eyes widened a bit at the almost contact, his breath hitching at the way she ran her fingers through his smooth locks. Then, yanking his hair back harshly, causing him to let out a hiss, the pinkette replied soothingly, "The smell of your innocence is the purest damn thing on your sorry ass."

There was another burst of laughter and she turned her head to look at a smirking Itachi as she released her hold on blonde locks. "I'll be going now since I'm not needed."

He nodded his head, the small smirk of amusement never leaving his features even as she performed a hand sign and disappeared, leaving a bewildered and slightly aroused blonde in her wake. The laughter only intensified with the kunoichi's absence as Kisame fell out of his chair laughing.

Deidara turned around and glared at the blue skinned male, not quite as amused. "Shut up, un!"

After awhile with Deidara still scowling, Kisame calmed down his laughter and wiped at the tears that escaped through his eyes. Then, realization seemed to hit them all as they all looked over at a bemused Tobi.

"Didn't she say. . . 'only virgin'?" the water nin mumbled.

Everyone stared silently at the masked man as he held up his hands in defense and yelled, "Tobi's a good boy!"

~~_SCENE CHANGE~~_

Blonde and dark hair ran together as they searched for a certain kunoichi through the miles of trees and leaves. It had been a week since they last seen her and though one wasn't willing to admit it, they both missed her presence and were concerned for her well being.

"What did you say to her to make her leave, Teme?" Naruto asked as he pressed forward. Both groups decided to split up into small teams to make the search faster and more efficient.

Sasuke frowned a bit at the blonde's question. "I didn't _say_ anything to make her leave."

"Fine." Naruto scoffed, "Then what did you do?"

"Will you just drop it?" the Uchiha scowled.

Naruto scoffed at him again in return but decided to let it go for the time being. They still had more important measures to attend to after all. They continued to run in silence for many more miles, both left alone with their own thoughts. However, something was eating at the blonde and he just had to bring it up.

"By the way, Teme?" the blonde spoke up tentatively, almost as if he were nervous to bring up the subject.

"What?"

"Why are you helping us find Sakura?"

The Uchiha almost stopped in surprise. But not in surprise because Naruto had asked him that, but over the fact that he wasn't entirely sure why he was helping the blonde shinobi in searching for Sakura. He wasn't even sure what the hell he was doing most of the time anymore. He spent about half of his time thinking about her, and half of the time that he did, he would end up pissed or frustrated with her actions. Especially when he would remember what she had said to him when they were alone that night. At first, he didn't want to admit to himself that he was jealous, but when she had yelled in his face that he was, he acknowledged it but didn't want to accept it at all.

He wanted to ignore the fact that some other man could be flirting with her at that moment. He also wanted to ignore the fact that even though he had willingly given her his body, she would shove him aside. Sasuke didn't want to think that the one person who had once claimed that she was in love with him could toss him aside so easily. He knew that he didn't want her with anyone else, but did he want her? He wasn't sure.

~~_SCENE CHANGE~~_

Although she had wanted to leave the base, Sakura didn't quite leave the area, just the room. At the last moment when she was getting out of range, she had caught the oddest smell. She had sensed chakra that she recognized belonged to one of the Akatsuki members, and yet it was strange. He smelled of plants, which instantly caught her attention.

Masking her chakra and her own scent for extra measures, her lithe form ran through the halls, her nostrils searching for that specific person. She hadn't caught it earlier since there were so many scents to focus on, which was odd considering his scent stood out to her the most at the moment.

The kunoichi stopped at the end of a hall where the hall separated into two different directions. She could either go left or go right. Going over to the left, she hugged the wall and peered around the corner curiously, cautiously. After all, one of the members wasn't too fond of her from the beginning and she was pretty sure she pissed off another earlier. As far as she was concerned, she was still in enemy territory. She tried not to show her caution and irritation when she could smell the hint of wood getting closer to her.

Still hugging the wall with her side and looking around the corner for any sign of the mysterious plant scented person, she tried her best to ignore the male that stopped behind her, slight curiosity running through him.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Sakura furrowed her eyebrows as she frowned and turned her head to look at the red head watching her. "Making sure I don't run into Hidan."

He didn't reply to her as he stared at her, his face expressionless, which only ended up irritating the pink haired female more. Letting out a sigh, she backed away from the wall and was about to walk away when he spoke up.

"How did you know that I was a puppet?"

The kunoichi was a bit shocked that he had bothered to ask her that. But what shocked her even more was that when she looked back at him, she couldn't sense anything that said he wasn't being serious. Did he really not know of her abilities? Every time she had encountered Itachi, the dark haired male always masked his scent, so she figured that he knew and that the others would know as well. Apparently not. Perhaps it was just the older Uchiha being extra cautious around people that were a possible threat.

Though his face didn't portray it, Sakura could tell that he was beginning to get impatient with her silent staring. Sighing, she shrugged. "You smell like one."

There was the slightest movement of his eyebrow as he took in her reply. Grinning up at him, she waved and turned around to head down the hallway in search for the mystery person she was looking for before he could ask her anything else.

Her nostrils searched the air and soon enough, she stopped in front of a set of huge, double doors. Contemplating on entering or not, she stood in front of them and looked over the carved detail in the wood. Letting out a sigh, she was about to push open the doors when they began to open from the person on the other side. Stepping aside, she watched as the person stepped out, not surprising her by his appearance, though it was definitely odd.

He didn't turn to look at her however, as he began to walk off away from her. Looking at the huge plant that sprouted out from his shoulders, she instantly knew that that was the person who she was looking for. She also knew that he was the one that had been watching her without her permission. All he would have to do was mask his chakra and his scent would instantly blend in with the trees that she was constantly around.

She watched him continue walking before she turned her attention back to the doors beside her. Looking in, the kunoichi was instantly met with the sight of a huge library.

~~_SCENE CHANGE~~_

Sakura groaned and shut the book in front of her harshly. She hadn't been able to find anything useful about her mating situation. Though she didn't exactly expect to find much on wolves in the hideout of the _Akatsuki_. Shifting to fully lean back in the plush chair, she let out a sigh, frustrated. All she had managed to find was that wolves made good ninja animals; what with their agility, speed, and heightened senses.

Angry stomps down the hall brought her out of her thoughts and she brought her head up to look at the large, wooden doors. "_Where the hell is she?!"_ a masculine voice yelled. And at that moment, the doors were swung open and in the doorway stood a very pissed off Hidan and Deidara. Sakura's frustrated mood instantly got worse, being able to sense their horrid intent. They were there to take out their revenge on her. Why did they have to mess with her? If they didn't, it would be all too easy for her to attempt to get along with them.

Narrowing her eyes, she watched as their faces shifted from anger to shock and then back to anger. "There's the bitch, yeah!" yelled the blonde. A low growl was heard but the rest happened in a flash, neither male being able to see what was coming before it happened.

Deidara let out a loud grunt as his body connected to the hard floor, an angered kunoichi straddling his his chest. His arms were pinned above his head with a fierce grip while Sakura leaned down to look closely into his visible, blue eye that showed how shocked he was for a moment until narrowing angrily at her.

He tried to nudge her off but she wouldn't budge, in fact, all he managed to do with that was make her angrier. Sakura leaned in even closer, inches from his face now, and let out a menacing growl, shocking the male again. Feeling that Hidan was about to make a move to get to her, the pinkette whipped her head around and let out another fierce growl. He abruptly stopped and stared at her, clearly too shocked to do anything. Wasting no time, the kunoichi returned her attention to the male below her that was watching her closely.

Leaning further down to blow a puff of hot air into his ear, she practically purred, "You would do well to not piss me off, _Deidara_."

She didn't miss the way his body stiffened and the way his heart started to beat faster. The thought that she could affect him like that made her smirk deviously. From the way he reacted to her earlier and at that moment, the pinkette could tell that he was naturally submissive, he enjoyed being dominated and got aroused by it. Although the others would think against it because of his personality, Sakura knew the truth. He secretly loved the way she yanked on his hair and pinned him down, and he wouldn't be able to handle her at all because of that fact. Though she figured she could use that to her advantage in the future whenever she got bored. Sakura had just now found a new play toy.

Just to piss Deidara off, the pinkette tightened her hold on his wrists, snaked her knee down to rub against his covered, growing erection, and licked up the side of his neck until nipping at his earlobe, "Now who's the bitch?"

And with that, she was suddenly off of him and striding gracefully down the hall, Deidara's cursing and Hidan's laughter left in her wake. There was nothing left for her to do there. She might as well leave and go collect some bounties.

~~_SCENE CHANGE~~_

Unfortunately, collecting bounties didn't turn out as planned. In fact, nothing turned out as planned. As soon as she had gotten a few miles away from the Akatsuki's base, she ran right into two people she didn't exactly want to see. Well, she mainly didn't want to see one of them, considering their last interaction that happened a week ago. And seeing his reaction to seeing her, he wasn't all too pleased with the moment either.

"Sakuraa!" the blonde yelled, breaking her out of her intense staring contest with the Uchiha to look over at him. "Why do you keep leaving?" he practically whined.

Her response was a lazy shrug, but it seemed that that only caused familiar anger to swell up even more in the supposed stoic male. His chakra flared threateningly, causing Sakura's chest to tighten in pain, but she wouldn't back down. Standing in a battle stance and placing her hand over her scythe's handle, she gave him an amused smirk. "You wanna fight me?" she asked.

Sasuke didn't reply to her, just glared with his teeth clenched harshly. "Come on." the pinkette taunted, "Just you and me. One on one."

He seemed to contemplate this for a moment until nodding, making Naruto gasp at his response. "Sasuke! You can't be serious!" the blonde yelled as he gaped at the dark haired male beside him.

"Stay out of this Naruto." the female hissed.

Naruto turned to look at her with an incredulous look, pain and worry in his eyes. Throwing his arms to the side to emphasize his point, he yelled, "No! I've finally found both of you and now you're fighting!"

"Naruto." the Uchiha growled, still glaring at the pink haired female in front of them. Said blonde frowned as he looked over at Sasuke, giving him a look that said that he might cry. "Sakura's right. This fight is between us."

"Alright." Sakura smiled, furthering her battle stance and grasping her scythe. "But let's go to a more wooded area."

Sasuke nodded and then turned to Naruto. "Go find Kakashi and tell him that we found her."

Naruto furrowed his blonde eyebrows for a moment, switching his gazes between the two before nodding himself, giving the duo one last glance before setting off into a quick run. Onyx eyes didn't watch the blonde run off as he kept his firm gaze on the pink haired female, not missing a single one of her movements.

"Why do you keep leaving?" he asked stoically.

Sakura narrowed her eyes a bit as she took in his question. Hadn't he asked her that before? Why did it matter? Why couldn't they just stay away from her? "Why do you care?" she asked lowly, watching him carefully. The female wasn't surprised when he didn't answer her, just continued to look at her with a scowl. Getting a bit annoyed with his silence and the fact that they were just standing there when the Akatsuki could have someone patrolling the borders around their base, Sakura didn't wait for his answer and soon set out into a fast run.

The kunoichi could feel the male chasing after her even as she ran through numerous of trees and bushes, though she didn't expect him to do anything less than follow. Putting up her guard when he instantly masked his chakra and scent, Sakura did the same, making sure that he couldn't find her as easily as he normally could. He wouldn't let her escape again, that much she was sure of, but he wouldn't get to her so easily and he wouldn't keep her chained down for good. She couldn't afford to be stuck with them when she was apart of an S-class criminal organization.

Sakura's body shrunk and was replaced with the lithe form of a strong wolf, running through the area elegantly as if the forest she was in were her own. Her senses immediately heightened and her stride was fierce as she listened for any sign of the one chasing her. He was near, though she didn't know exactly where he was.

Half a hour of running passed by and the kunoichi found herself still running through thick trees, the youngest Uchiha still chasing after her. Or at least until he caught up to her somehow. Sakura skidded to a stop as a shift of wind ran through the area beside her. A yelp left her white mouth as an arm snaked around her furry form, pulling her close to a hard chest.

The pinkette thrashed around in the uncomfortable hold as the male sat down on the ground, not quite sure how to hold the female in her animal form. When she continued to squirm in his arms and let out small growls, he found himself scowling.

"Hold still, damnit." he stated firmly, annoyed.

Sakura let out another growl but ceased her harsh movements and slightly relaxed against the dark haired male's chest. The kunoichi closed her multicolored eyes and listened to the male's heartbeat, noticing that it was beating faster than usual, a sign that he had been running for a long period of time. His breathing was starting to calm down as well. Though the female tried to ignore it, Sasuke's scent filled her nose and it demanded her attention. Along with the sweat that adorned his natural smell, his whole presence called out to her.

"Sakura, change back." Sasuke spoke, gaining her full attention.

The pinkette snorted in response, fully knowing what would happen if she did that. At least this way, she wouldn't have to talk to him. She wasn't even sure why she was allowing him to hold her, though she figured that if he really wanted to continue then she couldn't stop him.

"Sakura." he growled out warningly, not liking the fact that she was practically ignoring him.

The female felt a shiver run down her spine and she quickly found herself wanting to let out a groan. Should she transform back? Sakura was voting against it, merely curious to how far the Uchiha would go to get his way.

Sasuke let out an irritated groan as he brought a hand up and wrapped his fingers into the furry skin of the scruff of her neck, pulling her back from him and making her immobile. The dark haired male only continued to scowl even as the kunoichi let out a low whine in disapproval and looked at him.

Sakura frowned as she looked into narrowed onyx eyes. Letting out another whine, she hoped that that would be enough to make him let go of her. It only made him narrow his eyes at her more, however, much to her dismay. Not one to admit defeat that easily, the pinkette whined again and stuck out her tongue, skimming it over the dark haired male's nose.

The female watched as the Uchiha's eyebrow twitched, though she was filled with a slight relief when his face softened a bit. Licking his nose again to see if it would have the same effect twice, Sakura was disappointed when he frowned at her, starting to get annoyed with her actions. Obviously not being able to get her way this time around, the kunoichi slowly shifted back into her human form. Much to her displeasure, the hand that was holding the fur and skin at the back of her neck before, now had a firm grip in her hair.

Sakura scowled at the smirking male that was clearly satisfied with her choice of actions. Letting out a low growl when he tightened his hold in her hair, she looked straight into his dark eyes as he tilted her head back. Jade and cerulean orbs glanced over to the side of the male's neck, the smooth looking skin there taunting her in so many ways instantly. The kunoichi felt her throat go dry as she imagined her tongue skimming across it and then her teeth digging into the pale flesh. She could softly suck at the skin and pull it in between her teeth. Then she would rock her body against his as he let out a groan, urging her to go on.

Sakura mentally shook her head to get rid of such thoughts. Though from the smug smirk on the dark haired male's features, she was sure that he could already tell what was on her mind. Sasuke tilted his head to the side, showing off the skin that she had previously been staring at, teasing her all the more. The kunoichi didn't even register the fact that her eyes had darkened as she licked her lower lip. Damn this male and his seemingly cursed power over her. Damn his natural dominating ways that had her practically melting. And _damn_ _her_ for mating with him.

A small pink tongue darted out between the female's lips to wet them. The pinkette wasn't sure what she was wanting to do but when she felt the hand in her hair reach up to lay behind her scalp and push her forward, she found herself licking up the side of the pale neck that he had been taunting her with. Sakura wasn't sure why she wasn't restraining herself like she should have been, but she quickly found herself not caring as she skimmed her warm tongue against smooth flesh.

Sasuke's heart skipped a beat each time she did so and the fluttering of it didn't escape Sakura's notice once. The kunoichi felt pride sting at her that she of all people could get a reaction out of the male. Muscular arms wrapped fully around the female's petite form, the hand at her scalp tightening it's hold on her pink locks and pulling her closer. The next thing she did had a small gasp leaving his lips and his hardening cock twitching in his loose pants.

Sakura bit down harshly on the spot above his pulse point and closed her eyes. She couldn't believe how long she wanted to do that and the reaction she received had her groaning. Sasuke tightened his hold on her even more, if that was even possible, and rotated his hips against hers. The next thing she knew, they were laying on the grass with her positioned above him, straddling his waist as he looked up at her.

Multicolored orbs blinked for a moment until a smirk grazed her features and she leaned down, licking up the front of the dark haired male's neck. His arousal was intoxicating, filling her nostrils with a powerful presence and fogging up her mind. Positioning herself so that she sat fully on his clothed erection, she rotated her hips and rubbed up against him. The pink haired female's smirk grew when the Uchiha's eyes darkened even more and his lips slowly parted. The grip he had on her hips tightened as he moved her to rock against him again.

Sakura bit her lip and closed her eyes, a plan slowly forming in her head. She had noticed that Sasuke would lose awareness when he was aroused and when they had sex, he had fallen asleep soon afterward. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad to have sex with him again in order for her to get away. It would be a pain in the ass with the mating situation but at least she could get away from him again and possibly longer this time around.

With that in mind, the pinkette leaned forward and slowly dragged her tongue along the side of the dark haired male's neck, not missing the way his heart pounded against her rough, wet appandage. She could practically taste the arousal and anticipation on his skin and it only fueled her actions on more, causing her tongue to rise up and circle his earlobe. Nipping at it first, the female whispered huskily into his ear, "What do you want me to do to you, _Sasuke_?"

The Uchiha's tongue darted out to lick at his dry lips and swallowed harshly, though he was too distracted to notice his nervous actions. Just by looking at him, Sakura could tell that he was most likely embarrassed by her words, though he shouldn't have been. Then again, he had only had sex once, so in some ways, she guessed he could still be considered innocent. The thought made her want to laugh, but for want of her limbs to be in one piece, she held it in.

Sakura watched as the tiniest blush covered his cheeks and he turned his head, making an amused smile cross the kunoichi's features. Deciding to spare him some embarrassment or frustration, the petite female slyly slid her tongue over the male's jaw and over his lower lip, quickly and gently biting it to get his attention before pulling away. Satisfied that he looked back at her, the kunoichi slowly rocked her hips against his and decided to let instinct take over again.

Sakura leaned back and teasingly slid her hands inside the Uchiha's loose, white shirt, feeling hard, chiseled muscle under her warm palms. Jade and cerulean orbs watched intensely as Sasuke bit his lower lip, his eyes never leaving hers. Skillful fingers ran over his muscular chest, skimming across something that had the male's body slightly jerking.

Although unlike what she had planned to do, Sakura had to stop her movements when a familiar scent reached her nostrils. Letting out a growl, the kunoichi's head shot in the direction where she knew that the shinobi hid in the shadows. Why did he follow her? Was he planning on getting pay back for the embarrassment she put him through twice that day? Too bad. He wasn't going to get it.

Jumping away from the dark haired male on the ground with a low growl, the kunoichi realized at that moment; she had just found her escape. She would have to thank Deidara some other time, though. The pinkette turned her pose to the left and placed her hand over the handle of her scythe, prepared for any sort of fight that was to arise. Unbeknownst to the male next to her however, she wasn't about to leave him. Again.

~.~

Please review? :)


End file.
